


Challenged Instincts

by gotxbrains



Category: Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 17:34:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,595
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1478185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gotxbrains/pseuds/gotxbrains
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In the new world, all zombies run on instinct. But what happens when a certain hunter encounters a man that threatens to change his view on the life he is living? And what could this mean for the infection itself?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Crippling Blow

**Author's Note:**

> This story contains scenes of a graphic nature, furthermore depicting two men. If you don't like then you may leave. There's an arrow in the upper left hand corner of you internet browser that will take you to the previous page, and a big X in the right hand corner that will close the page. Your choice. Or if you do want to read, then continue on...

Infected:

A low growl came from his throat. He couldn't help himself, he always got caught in the heat of the moment. His screeching became more wild and out of control as he stalked closer to his prey. "Careful guys, I hear a hunter." Damn, he had let himself get discovered. From his vantage point, perched on the corner of a building, he staked out the survivors. Two dark ones, one large, the other two light and tall. Which one looked more tasty?

He crouched further, his screeches growing more frantic. The muscles in his legs rippled with expectation. The large dark one grew slowly more separated from the group, then he stopped. He took the chance, leaping from the building. His feet threw him forward and down and he let out a howl of immense pleasure. Everyone else seemed to freeze in terror. The hunter landed squarely on his target, knocking him to the ground. He took no time tearing apart the man, and he was there for quite a while before someone came to rescue the man, who was screaming in pain.

A woman ran over shouting something, but he was too into what he was doing to notice. Suddenly though he felt something connect to his head, hard. The hunter stumbled off the man and looked around. He expected the bullets to fly any moment, but they didn't come. His eyes caught one of the survivor's eyes and the hunter stood still for a moment before screeching and bounding away from the group. The three survivors not on the ground relaxed.

Survivors:

Rochelle dropped to her knees by coach's side. "Coach... you gonna make it? She asked, trying not to notice the man's nearly fatal wound. Coach shook his head, accompanying it with a grunt of pain. He spat a bit of blood from his mouth. Ellis stared down at him.

"Coach..." He knew the man wouldn't make it with that kind of wound. Nick hang back, hiding but he was certainly upset about the old man's dilemma. Ellis looked away suddenly. "We have gauze, we can fix 'im up, right?" He asked, his voice an undertone of worry.

"Honey... he aint gonna make it." Rochelle whispered to Ellis, not wanting to freak out the coach. He was on the ground, straining to breath. Coach knew what they were all thinking. They couldn't continue with him, they would be slowed down even more. They would be better off without a tired old man anyway. But none of them wanted to do it. He was suffering but there was no way anyone would end it.

Nick swallowed. "We need to get moving. All of us are out of ammo."

"We can't just leave him here to suffer!" Ellis objected.

"Then end it." Nick said coldly, passing the machete to Ellis. Ellis shook his head.

"Naw man... I can't do that." He said, refusing the weapon. Nick nodded, fully understanding.

"Ya'll go ahead. I'll catch up to you." They all knew what was going to happen. Ro tugged on Ellis's arm.

"Come on sweety, there's a safe house up ahead." She used her calmest, most sweet tone she could muster. It didn't help him at all. The two walked on, and half way to their destination Nick caught up to them. Fresh blood covered the machete.

"Bye coach. We'll miss you..."

The safe house door closed shut and Ellis latched it securely, stacking up a bit of a barrier just in case. When he finished, he took a seat away from the others. There was a solemn cloud of depression over the group of three. Everyone seemed to be affected by coach's death, but no one wanted anyone else to know how much it was affecting them. Ellis was the first to speak. "We should... ya know say some words or something."

Nick then spoke. "Why? It's not gonna bring him back." He scowled and Ellis seemed to retreat back. "The only thing we can do to honor him is to keep on surviving," the gambler said fiercely.

"It's strange..." Ro finally spoke up. "That hunter was different. It was stronger... or maybe i just couldn't get to him in time," she mused mostly to herself. But she wasn't about to blame herself for the death of coach. She had a zombie apocalypse to blame. "No matter. Ellis- I know you're hurting, but Nick's right. We gotta get moving." As if on cue, the familiar bang and earth shaking rumble of the planes dropping bombs off in the distance berated the survivors. Ellis nodded and holstered his gun. They stocked up on the necessary stuff and mentally prepared themselves before removing the bar to the safe house door.

Infected:

The hunter was alerted to the door bursting open. The three survivors walked out and began dropping nearby zombies. The short one with the pink shirt- that pink made him want to rip out her innards and scatter them across the world. He restrained himself though though, focusing his attention to the younger of the males. Something about him was different, something that had challenged his instincts. The hillbilly drew the hunter's attention, and ever since that face to face encounter with him he had felt an overwhelming urge. An rge that went against everything his zombie life had been till then. He wanted to protect him, make sure the man was always safe or wouldn't be harmed.

He overlooked the group and let out a snarl of disapproval as the boy was attacked by a couple of common. They got in a few good hits. He was fighting against his baser instincts. He wanted to leap forward and rip apart any infected that even considered laying a hand on him. The three began to cover more ground and the hunter followed, a silent observer traveling by roof-top.

He was fighting so hard against himself. He wanted to just get down there and protect the man, but he couldn't fight for the kid when he was struggling so hard with himself. Half of him spotted weak and easy prey; the other half was harboring forming love, a small piece of his soul seemingly still human.

The hunter was drawn out of his internal battle and faced with the one in front of him. The small boy had taken a large risk. He had wanted to check out the store nearby and had hence wandered away from the others. In an instant the grunt of a charger could be heard as it pummeled the small male. The hunter threw all of his zombie inhibitions aside. The two were shouting and firing, running toward the man in danger but they wouldn't make it in time. Incompetent humans. He leaped down and rushed towards the charger at full force, his shoulder connecting painfully to the charger.

The charger, slightly startled, released the boy and looked around, eyes narrowing on the hunter, a very confused expression on his deformed face. The hunter growled, managing to hiss out "MINE!" before leaping towards the charger, it's claws shredding into the head and killing it. He started to walk toward the hillbilly, to make sure he was okay. But the other two had caught up by then, and a bullet pierced through his shoulder. He screamed in pain, jumping away to safety. "Ellis! You okay?" the bitch screamed. Annoying voice.

Ellis... the one he had to protect was named Ellis...

Survivors:

After the hunter had escaped, the three had been keeping an eye out for him. It made it worse for them knowing he was still alive and out there. They had taken a moment to make sure Ellis was fine before trudging on again. Nick spoke up, taking the lead for now it seemed. "We gotta keep following the freeway." He said, leading the way under the crumbling bridge. Ro and Ellis remained alert and ready. They still made quite a good team, even without coach. Or so they thought. Turned out surviving a horde or special infected was a lot harder with just one man down.

Despite loosing one man though, the three kept finding it easier to incapacitate their enemies. Special infected kept wandering into them already wounded. After making their way through a suburban area, Ro spoker he mind. "You think, just maybe, Coach is up there weakening the zombies for us?"

Nick snorted, not bothering to give that a reply. A silent consensus had been reached- they had taken a small outpost in a mostly abandoned house to rest up for a bit. They had been moving non stop all day.

"Ellis... speak your mind." Ro said, noticing that the hillbilly hadn't said much recently.

"Hmm? I just been doin some thinkin' ya know. Do ya reckon that infected could... like... learn to talk?" He asked curiously, choosing his words and hiding something. The other two shrugged.

Nick had to add his cynnicist view to it. "They aint human anymore. There's no way they could learn to talk. Why, you hear them talking to you or something?"

Ellis fumed. "NO! Just... well maybe. Yall know that hunter? I think he might've saved my life." He said seriously. Nick burst into laughter and Rochelle shot him a dirty look.

"Saved... saved your life! HAH! That's a good one!"

"I'm being serious!m And it spoke too!"

"What d- what did it say?" Nick asked, trying to stop laughing.

"It said-" He stopped and shrugged. "I can't remember. But I know it spoke!"

Ro sighed. "Maybe it did speak. It wouldn't be any weirder than this whole situation now anyway. It could happen. But I doubt it truly wanted to save you Ellis."

"Yeah, it probably just wanted to eat all of you instead of having to share with the charger!" Nick joked some more. Ellis didn't find it amusing.

"But he did... I could feel it." He said quiet enough no one else heard. Even now he could feel it, that feeling he had ever since coach died. He was being protected, he just knew it. Could it really be the hunter? But Nick was true, what possible reason would a zombie have to protect their food? It just didn't add up...

"We shouldn't stay much longer. Who knows when they'll start bombing us." The three nodded and stood, exiting the house and continuing on. Once again Ellis could feel the eyes on his back. He didn't turn around. He knew even if he did he wouldn't catch anything. But no matter what it gave the optimist another reason to be happy.

"Damn. Looks like the only way to continue is through the sewer." Ellis said, standing in front of an opened manhole and staring down.

"Are you serious? That's disgusting!" Ro said, shifting her weapon. Such a tiny girl shouldn't be carrying such a huge weapon. It didn't look right against her pink shirt either.

"Well no use standing around staring at it." Nick said, once again taking initiative and dropping down into the sewer the other two followed suit.

Infected:

The hunter growled as he watched the group go down the mahole one by one. There'd be no way he could follow them through that... He jumped up to another building to get a better vantage point, wincing as the bullet wound rubbed against the rough fabric of his hoody. The bullet was probably still in there, but it didn't seem to bother him at all. "Ell... is" He grunted, letting out raspy growls in between syllables.

The hunter growled again and dropped down to the open sewer. Common infected tended to stear clear of him as he traversed. He stared into the dark hole and shrugged. He wasn't about to dive in and follow them. He'd risk getting shot by the three. So he instead decided to follow above the surface. He followed the sound of their bullets until their exit point was visible to him. The survivors were still deep in the sewers.

So he figured he'd help. He started dashing around the car yard, deftly avoiding all cars while slashing the zombies in half. This would almost certainly help their trek through the alarm riddled junkyard. The hunter managed to clear out most of the zombies in the area before the survivors began to surface and he was forced to scurry away and hide, observing only from the shadows.

Survivors:

Ellis was the first to emmerge, clothes covered in stale sewer water, the threads still dripping the yellow-ish liquid onto the ground. He wiped his face and shivered in disgust. "I ain't ever doin' that again guys." He said with contempt as Rochelle crawled out. She was less covered, just her pants. She was followed by Nick. Ellis's heart skipped a beat when he realized he was waiting for coach to crawl out.

Nick was partially drenched himself, more than Ro but less than Ellis. The hillbilly in question was looking around, glowing with pride. "See ah told y'all. That hunter's just protecting us!"

"Waddya me-" Nick stopped mid sentance when he noticed the bodies of the freshly re-deceased. They all had telltale claw marks, and they all seemed dead. "... Could just be a coincidence. Maybe it's a different hunter." Nick tried to reason. Ellis grumbled, but didn't push the issue further. None of them could deny no matter what it was it helped their trek through the perilous car yard go much smoother than if they had to deal with all the zombies themselves. And for that, the three were greatful.

Rochelle lead this time, heading towards a billboard with the ladder hanging down. "We can get up to the freeway here, men!" She signalled, waving for them to follow. The three nodded and began climbing up the ladder, in order Ro, Ellis, and Nick.

Turns out things had been going too smooth. Nick didn't realize at first, but he soon saw the slimy tongue wrapping around him. His hands lost their grip and he was pulled off the ladder, tummeling down the length he had climbed. He let out a cry for help and Ellis was the first on the scene, jumping off the ladder and then aiming towards the smoker hidden in the bushes.

With a single shot, the smoker exploded, releasing the noxious smelling gas. Nick gagged and coughed, covering his face as he walked out of the cloud. "If we really had a Hunter protecting us, do ya think he would've let something like that happen?" Nick said once back on the ladder.

Ellis didn't know what to say. If they did have a hunter, then Nick was right. It would've been easy to stop that from happening. Maybe he was wrong. He pondered in silence as they continued onto the highway.

The decrepit bridge didn't take them far before they were faced with a wall of burning cars. Their only choice was to jump into a cemetary below. The group of three fought valiantly, pushing their way through a horde and even more weakened special infected. At one point they had heard an explosion nearby, one of a boomer exploding.

"Didja hear that?" Ellis asked excitedly. "He's really there! That hunter IS helping us!" But the group simply refused to believe. Ellis, young and innocent Ellis didn't give up though. His instincts were almost always right. Nothing would change that.


	2. Contact

The group of three had made it safely to the safe house, almost without a single scratch. And who was the reason for that? The hunter knew it was him, sure. But he wasn't exactly glowing with pride. They kept ignoring everything he had done for him, shrugging it off as simply a coincidence. Except for Ellis. The boy knew about him, knew he was being protected. And that alone was enough to keep this charade up.

That's all it was. A charade. He could help the survivors, he could act and pretend like he was human, but when it came down to it he wasn't. He wasn't a homosapien anymore, this disease had mutated his DNA. It was taking all he could do to go against it right now. Perhaps the strain of the mutation he suffered from gave him an easier time fighting it. Perhaps he was still slightly human thanks to the disease...

Wishful thinking like this only made him more depressed. He was a freak of nature. Or was he? It's not like he was the only with this. Maybe the humans still alive were the freaks. The hunter grumbled and kicked a bit of pebbles off the roof he was on.

The roof overlooked the exit to the safe house. He was waiting for them to continue moving. He was starting to wonder if they were going to camp there for the night. He wished they wouldn't. Having all this time to think about stuff was making him more depressed. In a way, protecting young Ellis made him happy. He wasn't exactly sure why. Just... instinct.

He had been so deep in thought he almost missed the survivors leaving. During non-dangerous times he was able to control himself pretty well, hanging back and letting the survivors take care of the stuff they were capable of taking care of. But when the heat of the battle reached his senses, he lost it. Much like before he had ran into the survivors. The scent of a human drove him wild, and he would attack unmercifully until he had a meal. Now he was attacking zombies to protect the humans.

He growled angrily to himself, as he had been to preocupied thinking and had lost sight of Ellis. This wasn't good... He couldn't see them anywhere, couldn't smell them either. The smell of acrid smoke and decomposing bodies, melting tar from the hot Loisiana sun- it all berated his nose and covered up all tracks of the survivor... Not good.

The hunter began going crazy, howling and screeching as he began to hop from building to building, searching desperately for the human. He felt like he had lost something precious, much more precious than his own life. He felt lost and empty without the human's prescence. Hey, maybe he was becoming more human. He hadn't felt this since he became infected...

He felt lonely.

Survivors:

Without the hunter's protection, the difficulty of their treck was noticeable. The three had been slacking off, but now the zombies were all coming at them stronger. They were forced to use more ammo and force, they all took more hits. It wasn't looking good for any of them. Nick had suffered a possible broken rib as a charger pounded him into hard concrete. Rochelle had so muny cuts and wounds her pink shirt was tinted a darker red. Ellis was the most lucky. He seemed to only have a slightly sprained ankle, although all the walking on it hadn't been helping.

"What happened all of a sudden?" Nick asked curiously after fighting off an extremely large horde. Ellis had been wondering this whole time. Had something happened to their hunter? He chuckled inwardly. THEIR hunter. The other two didn't even acknowledge it. And the fact that he had claimed possesion over him. He had to remember they were humans at one point too. He shook his head. Optimism aside, he was faced with the truth. They were no longer recieving protection from the hunter.

That meant a few things. First, it could mean the hunter had given up. Or it could mean something had happened to him... He didn't know why, but that thought made him stiff up a little. It was just a hunter, and he hadn't even seen him at all. Why did the thought of something happening to this mutant make him feel sad?

He shrugged it off and continued along. While traveling through Louisiana, he had been oddly silent. They all had been. Maybe Rochelle was still dealing with Coach's death. Nick was just naturally this quiet. But Nick was worried. Ellis hadn't ever gone so long without telling one of his famed Keith stories. Something must be bothering him. "Ellis..." He said quietly. "What's wrong with you?" He said rather bluntly. It came off sounding rude, but he was honestly trying to be kind.

Ellis didn't notice the attempted kindness and just glared at Nick. "Ain't nothing wrong with me." He said deffensively. He also effectively ended this rather short conversation. Nick sighed. Well, at least he had tried, right? It's the thought that counts.

Rochelle limped along behind the guys, trudging on as best she could. But she didn't think she would be able to go on much longer in this condition. "Guys... i'm hurtin real bad. Think we could find a place to rest for a bit?" She suggested. The strain in her voice was obvious.

Ellis nodded. "We should rest a little. Maybe our protection will come back."

"You're still going on about the hunter? Is that what this is about?" Nick said, reffering to Ellis's overall quietness. Ellis shot Nick another dirty look and then ignored him. He began scouting out possible rest points. There was a grocery store nearby with barred doors and windows.

"There. That looks like a good spot" Ellis pointed out. They all agreed and walked into the story, eager to get a couple moments of rest in.

Once in they closed the doors and began checking out their injuries. Ellis took a med-kit and began cleaning up the wounds that were still bleeding, then wrapped them up with guaze. All they could do for Nick's broken ribs was kiss it better. Ro offered to do that and Nick scowled, getting a small chuckle from the girl. After their injuries were somewhat tended to, they began to peruse all the food in the store. It wasn't much, and they could only eat the packaged stuff. A lot of it tasted stale and past its prime, but food was food. So they ate their fill, happy to get food in their bellies. Once they were done, they proceeded, this time with more caution and less cockiness. Since the loss of Coach, they had been battling with unseen protection, but now that protection was not present.

Ellis recognized this. But the others mearly blamed it on coincidence. And now that the zombies were strong again, that only made them believe more that there wasn't a sane hunter helping them out for no reason. But Ellis knew...

The group of three found a safe house not far ahead, and they were all extremely happy to have arrived there. They were all so worn out from the long trek, and that rest didn't really help them. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but it only made them realize how tired they were.

No sooner had they arrived in the safe house, they were roused to action by a very close explosion. Nick rolled his eyes. "Well It's official. They're trying to kill US now." He said in a very aggravated voice.

Ellis nodded. "We should get movin... this place could be next." He said, sounding slightly sad. Those were the first words he had said in a while.

Nick smiled at him. "Finally got over you imaginary hunter?" He was, once again, trying to be nice. He wasn't very good at it.

Ellis growled, clenching his fist and holding back his anger. "I wasn't imagining him! He was real, I swear!" He sighed then. Why was he even trying again? He had already given up on them. But Nick was right, there wasn't help now. So he should just get over it all ready. He wasn't helping the team when he was moping about all the time.

"Whatever, let's jus' get to safety guys." He said, trying to sound slightly chipper even if he wasn't exactly feeling it. They readied their guns, grabbed more ammo and headed out into a courtyard full of zombies, then through an abandoned house and out onto the balcony where they were greeted with a disturbing sound they had all come to hate.

"There's a witch around." Rochelle whispered, stating quite the obvious thing. The crying of the witch was disturbed only by the sound of another jet flying by and dropping it's bomb. The three froze while they looked for the witch.

"Down there." Ellis pointed towards the witch. It was up and about, headed in the direction they were heading in. There was no cover. It was a long street. Didn't seem like sneaking past would be much of a good way of avoiding it.

"Damn it all to hell," Nick complained. "I hate those bitches."

"Well waddya wanna do about it?" Ellis remarked. Nick replied with a shrug. "Okay guys, on the count of three, we all open fire. Run and shoot." He said rather bravely. Although none of them liked the idea of upsetting the witch, it seemed to be the only choice.

"1..." Nick, Ellis, and Ro all held up their choice of gun and aimed it steadily at the wandering witch, still bawing her eyes out.

"2..." Their fingers twitched slightly on the triggers...

"3!" They all open fire at the same time, their bullets hitting the witch. The infected zombie in question howled as several bullets pierced her skin and she looked at the direction they came, screaming her rage and racing towards them.

"SHOOT IT, SHOOT IIITTT!" Ellis screamed, slowly backing up. There was a moment where they lost sight of it for a second. The hair on the back of their necks stood up when they saw the long, clawed hands on the edge of the balcony, the witch's glowing eyes visible moments later. "SHOT THE FUCKING THING!" Ellis screamed again

They didn't have to be told. They were already on the witch in an instant, shooting as fast as they could. The witch continued to scream and shout as it pulled itself up and over the balcony edge, then rushed at them. The group of three had hit the back of the balcony.

Their bullets continued to tear through the zombie. They were all getting more nervous. One hit and they'd all be down. One slice from those deadly claws...

"AAAUUGGHGH" The witch screamed one last time before falling mere inches from the three humans' feet. Everyone let out the breaths they were holding.

Ellis laughed, as you would when faced with something scared or disturbing. "WOOBOY!" He shouted, his mind on an adrenaline high.

"That was not a good plan." Nick commented, rushing off.

"It worked, didn't it?"

"That was a little too close, Ellis." Ro said with a slight chuckle.

"But, hey. IT WORKED. Didn't it?" He asked again.

"I suppose. Next time we'll try something different though." She gave one last chuckle before following Nick's lead and heading out. They took turns jumping off the balcony and to street level before continuing on. The end of the street came quickly, block by an impassable bus, and they were forced into an old style pub. Ellis spotted a few weapons on the table.

"HELL YEAH!" He shouted, picking up a SPAS. The two others chuckled at his enthusiasm of holding such a big gun. They all tensed when they heard a recognizable cough nearby.

"Good. Put that thing to use." Nick said, forcing them onward. Rochelle, it seemed, was the target. A slimy tongue broke through the nearby window and wrapped itself around Ro.

"It's got me!" She screamed for help as she was dragged backwards, closer to the window. Ellis took aim with his new gun and fired. It killed the smoker in one shot.

"Got it!" He said. They weren't going to celebrate though. They had to continue. They made it the second story, and were greeted with another bomb. This one was close enough that it shook the ground they stood on, and weak parts of the cieling fell off onto the survivors.

"We gotta hurry up or we won't make it out of this alive." Nick said remorsefully. The bombings were growing increasingly more frequent, and the general consensun was to not get blown up by a huge pile of rubble. The moment they made it out, the earth began to shake again. This time it would be scarier though, because instead of being accompanied by the sound of an explosion, there was a deafening roar coming with this shake.

"Shit." Ellis stated simply. The tank rounded the corner and began charging at the survivors he had noticed. "KILL THE FUCKING THING!" Ellis shouted. He knelt down and began firing. They were still a good distance away. Ro and nick were in the back. Ro spotted a gas tank and through it out in the path of the tank and nick shot at it, creating a brilliant blaze that caught the tank on fire. Although now they had a flaming tank charging at them even angrier than before. They began to run backwards and fire, not an easy feat. The two behind Ellis made it out of harms way, and the tank had decided to charge Ellis. "FUCK, KEEP SHOOTIN'!" He yelled just before the tank's fist made contact with his stomach, knocking the air out of him and sending him flying into the air. He screamed as he landed with a thud on the packed dirt and grass, banged up pretty badly from the punch and the fall. The tank continued to run at him though, and he had to get up fast.

He pushed himself to his knees and run to cover towards the other two, who had continued firing at the flaming tank. Before it could reach the three, it gave up and fell forward with a resounding thud. "Ellis... You okay?" Nick asked with worry. that was a little odd. There was a sound of urgency and pleading in that question. Ellis missed it though. Rochelle picked up on it.

Ellis grunted. "Y... yeah. Jus... AH!" He definitely had a few ribs broken from the punch.

"Now we're in the same boat. Don't worry. Ya get used to it eventually." Nick said, forcing a smile. The hillbilly smiled too, and they limped on. It did get slightly better as they went, which meant Ellis was able to keep up pretty well with the group.

They traveled through another house and then found themselves on a balcony overlooking a strange Mardi Gras float. It was conveniently carrying a large board, which bridge a very large gap that led the way the need too. All very convenient. No one questioned it though. Heck not even Ellis recognized...

Infected:

The hunter had pushed the large truck by himself, using all his strength. The only other way to get it over there was to start it, and having grown up in these parts he remembered that it caused quite a bit of noise with its blaring music. So he moved it himself. He figured Ellis might come through these parts. And he was right. Sitting hidden in a shadow near the Mardi Gras float, he watched as the three people made their way across the board and continued on through. He was in no shape to help them deal with infected though. He had used up all of his energy, and his body was pushed to it's limit with blood loss and broken bones.

He had been all over the city looking for the group. He felt so lost without Ellis in his sights. And now that he found him he felt like a hole in his heart had been filled, felt like a bit of the infection residing in him had disappeared. "Ellis..." He grumbled silently.

Survivors:

"Yeah?" Ellis asked, hearing his name.

"What?" the other two replied.

"Did one of ya just say my name?"

Nick shook his head.

"Huh... must be hearing things." He said, shrugging it off as nothing more than the wind.

The three trudged on, suffering quite a bit. By the time they made it to the safe house, to the bridge, all of them were on the verge of passing out.

"Imma need some pain pills... and some alcohol." Ellis said, slightly slurring. "To get rid of all this pain."

Ro nodded her agreement. "I'm hurtin too. But we're almost there. The evac center is right on the other side of this bridge." Ro said with a smile.

"I don't know if i can make it." Ellis said, lifting up the legs to his pants. His ankle was incredibly swollen. There wasn't exactly any ice in this humid temperature, as freezers had stopped working when electricity went out. Funny how that works, huh?

"Hey..." He handed Ellis some ammo. "You can do this. Once we make it across that bridge, we'll be free. They'll take us to a safe zone, free of zombies. With food, and electricity, and TV." Ellis smiled that charming smile of his.

"Yeah... just all on the other side of that bridge." They all sighed a bit, inwardly hoping for that to be the truth- that once they were there that was the end of it. Things would soon be normal again. CEDA would deal with the infection, the country would slowly be repaired. Infected would start dying off more and more. Repopulation... and hey if that didn't work... move to Europe.

Wishful thinking. None of this was over yet...

They all prepared in haste, with their visions of a semi-happy life, and soon they were ready to head out.

They opened the door to the bridge and hear the cackling of a two way radio. Nick squats down and pushes the button to talk. "Uh... hello?"

"Hello? That's coming from the bridge!" The guy on the other end exclaims. "Are you immune?" He asked.

Nick shrugged. "Yes. I mean, we're not infected so we must be, right?"

"You're gonna have to lower the bridge and make it across. But be careful, the bridge is full of zombies. And they'll be bombing the bridge in a little under 5 minutes!"

"Ya hear that? We got 5 minutes to make it across the bridge, but be careful, cuz there are zombies."

"Wonder if he know's we been fighting zombies all the way here." Ellis proclaimed.

The bridge lowered... everyone's heart skipped a beat. This was it. Make it across or die. That's what it came down to...

The following five minutes were hell for the three. They wouldn't have made it if they had to fight the tank waiting for them at the bridge. Luckily it seemed to trip over its feet and fall off the side. The group had the helicopter in sight. Ellis was limping along, slowly falling behind. They could see the airplanes getting closer to the bridge. "Guys! GUYS, WAIT UP! I'm falling behind!" Ellis shouted at them. He tried to run faster. His leg twisted and he fell forward, his gun skidding off a crumbling edge of the bridge. "Augh!" He grunted and then looked up, waiting for the two to come back to his rescue.

What he saw nearly broke his little heart. Rochelle looked back, one of the most sorry looks on her faces. But she kept moving, running on with Nick. They weren't coming back to help him. The planes were nearly on them now. "Nick...? Rochelle..?" He pleaded. Ellis was left sprawled on the concrete of the bridge, zombies enroaching and an even more threatning bomber plane. Even from here Ellis could hear his doom, falling down now. The bomb was soaring through the sky. The others were safely off the bridge now. Ellis was left there with his throbbing ankle. He thought he was going to die right then. He could practically read the lettering on the bomb's side...

The next thing he saw was a flash of dull blue, followed by a blinding flash and a deafening roar of an explosion. He was falling through the air now... falling... falling...

Ellis awoke to the feel of warm water sloshing over his lower body. His head rest on warm, dry dirt. He forced himself to open his eyes and he was squinting up at the bright sun hanging over him, lighting and warming his body. His mind swam as he sat up. He was now overlooking a calm river, His legs soaked from the slightly muddy water. He shook his head and grimaced at the slight pain. It was still incredibly hot. Either he had survived and was still somewhere in Louisianna, or he had died and gone to hell. He chuckled. That last one seemed unlikely. Him, in hell? Yeah right. But that brought up the question- how DID he survive? Which lead to another question, how was he going toc continue to survive. He felt his pockets for anything that would help, but they seemed to be cleaned out. He looked on the muddy bank of the river and spotted a desert eagle, the sunlight glinting off the metalic barrel of the gun.

He got to his feet shakily and walked over to grab it, noticing the chamber was full. Maybe it was his hunter who had saved him. He then nearly fell to the ground as the pain of his injured ankle was suddenly felt. It could have been caused by the sudden emotional pain he felt as he remembered the two people left in his life that he had trusted entirely walk away and leave him to die. But he had someone... there was still someone out there protecting him.

He wished he could thank the hunter. He wouldn't be alive if it weren't for him. He didn't even know if he'd been alive to traverse the bridge in the first place. He wished he could thank the hunter, that the hunter would show himself. He wouldn't shoot it, not like his old friends would. They didn't even believe him anyway.

It seemed like his hopes had been heard, perhaps. He saw a hoodied figure stalking towards him, coming from a field of tall, yellowing grass. It would be awkward thanking a dead thing, but he would try. He was about to speak when he realized the hunter was staring dead at him, a menacing snarl plastered on his face and a growl emanating from his mouth that sent shivers down Ellis's spine. "I don't suppose you're the one's been helpin' me, 'ave you?" He asked quietly, his face white.

His question was answered as the hunter suddenly leaped at him and pounced, taking no time at tearing into his still healing wounds. "SHIT SHIT SHIT!" He screamed, kicking and pushing at the hunter to no avail. He would've screamed for help, if he had any nearby. But he was alone now, abandoned to live for himself. He wasn't about to give up that easily, not now that he had been given a second chance. Ellis pushed through the pain of having his chest torn into and clenched his fist, swinging it hard and fast. The fist connected with the hunter's rotting flesh, making a sickening thud. The hunter was stunned at this action, and ellis took the opportunity to kick the hunter off him, now pinning him. He began to scratch and claw at the hunter, punching and tearing at anything he could reach.

He was taking out all his pent up anger on the infected, who was howling and screaming, still tearing away at Ellis. But the anger and the satisfaction of utterly destroying the infected drowned out the pain he was feeling. Soon he was worn out though. The hunter had stopped moving, its face a bloody bulp. Ellis panted and stood, staring at his bloody hands. He had used the blunt side of the gun a bit, but that now lie somewhere nearby.

He was shocked at what he had done. He wiped the blood on his already stained shirt and swallowed, feeling a little unprotected without the gun. He looked for it and picked it up off the ground once again, readying it just in case. He wondered if that was the same hunter that had been helping him. Maybe it really did just want his flesh.

He took a bit to survey the damage the lone hunter had done to him. His shirt was in tatters, his chest had multiple claw marks running quite deep, spreading blood down his chest and staining the hem of his pants. He wasn't in good shape, and the hot sun on his practically bare back was causing him to sweat quite a bit.

He sighed and looked around. Where was he to go now? What was he to do now that he was all alone? Standing around here and thinking wasn't going to change anything. He shrugged and figured he'd just start out in a direction. He started walking into the tall grass, ignoring the stinging feel of the blades rubbing against his still open wounds. Maybe he'd find an encampment nearby...

He stopped suddenly as he heard a rustle nearby. His muscles tensed and he turned his whole body towards the sound. The rustling didn't stop, and soon he could see movements in the grass. He raised his gun and had almost pulled the trigger when suddenly another hunter had leaped forward. This one simply knocked the gun away though, landing on his chest and staring down at him. Ellis looked up and glared, then he thought "Maybe this was him!"

"Ell... lis..." It growled through clenched teeth. Ellis's eyes went wide as it spoke his name.

"You gotta be him!" He said excitedly, still on the ground underneath the hunter. The hunter wasn't looking at him anymore, but was now staring at his wounded chest. He placed a hand on the blood covered boy and then growled. It looked to be struggling with itself. Ellis grimaced a bit as the hunter acted strangely. Well, stranger than not attacking him and speaking.

It suddenly let out a disturbing sound and pushed off from Ellis, running away. Ellis lost sight of it through the tall, dense grass. "Wait! Come back!" He said, taking off after it. But he wasn't as fast as the hunter, and his ankle was still in no condition for running. "Damn..." He said quietly, looking around once again. That was definitely strange, but there was no doubt about it. That was the hunter that had been helping them this whole time. He had noticed the bullet wound his team mates had put in its shoulder, and had saw how his hoody was stained with the distinct color of boomer guts and bile. It was definitely the same one.

That thought kept him going, that even though the hunter wasn't with him directly, he was still there, and was still helping the young boy survive.

Infected:

The hunter had made contact with Ellis, at long last. After watching the boy being abandoned by the ones he called friends, he had been anticipating the moment of contact for a while now. He had finally done it, but he had almost lost it. He was still fighting against the demon inside him.

When he had smelled the blood, he had been driven crazy. He had tried to withstand it, tried not slashing into that tasty young meat... but he had almost failed, and with the last bit of will he had left, he ran away. He would never forgive himself if he had been the one to hurt Ellis. Especially after all that he had done to save him.

After seeing the man fall on the bridge, he had immediatly rushed into action from the shore. He had been waiting the for Ellis, not liking the possibility of him getting shot or blown up by the planes. But he had thrown all inhibitions away when Ellis was in danger. He had pushed himself to the limit, running in as fast as he ever had, slashing away the commong like they were nothing. He had reached Ellis right before the first bomb had hit the bridge. He dragged the boy over the edge and they plummeted straight into the river, heated by the sun.

The hunter had forgotten how to swim, something he hadn't taken into consideration. Holding onto Ellis, he began to sink quickly. Ellis seemed to be passed out from that point on, perhaps from shock. Perhaps from lack of oxygen in his lungs. He kicked his powerful legs, and that seemed to propel him up towards the surface. He kicked again and again until they were above the water. They were down stream a significant amount, and the swift current would have pulled a normal human under in a second. But the hunter had something to fight for, and he swam towards the shore, laying the boy down on the muddy beach.

After all that, he was worn out. His body shook from the effort and he could barely walk. It seemed he had pushed himself a bit too far. He passed out right next to the man.

Luckily for him though, he had woken up sometime during the night, Ellis still passed out next to him. He felt better, more rested, and thankfully nothing had gotten to either of them. He had scouted around the area, and found the gun next to a fallen survivor, who he had disposed of in the river. He placed the gun next to Ellis and climbed the nearest tree, staying alert and waiting until the boy woke up the next morning. And now here he was, running away from the boy so he didn't hurt him. What if something else got to him. What if another hunter decided to ravage his body again? Ellis had done good defending himself when he had gone lax, but he wouldn't do that again.

He stopped and located Ellis's scent, running towards the nearest tree to get above the grass. He began to once again follow the man from the shadows.

Survivor:

Ellis knew he was being followed now. The hunter didn't hide it anymore, and it seemed like it was only watching from afar just for his own security. It didn't make him feel as safe as if the hunter was right next to him, but it did effectively keep him safe. they made quite a good team, especially for not even specifically travelling together. They soon happened on a long abandoned military outpost, complete with barbed wire fences and military artillery. The base was over run with infected though, and Ellis thought it best to avoid it. He hadn't used any of his bullets on the infected, the hunter having enough skill to take out the little ones, but there was way too many infected here.

Of course military outpost meant possible weapons. He knew that if he decided to traverse the dangerous base, the hunter would be right behind him. Dangit, he wished they'd just officially travel together already.

He shrugged and figured he had nothing else to loose. He looked for a weak spot in the deffense, and found where the infected had apparantly made their way in- a hole in the fence, the only rusted part of the entire fence too. He turned his head and spotted the hunter eyeing him warily. He smiled towards the hunter, and then pushed his way through the hole, careful not to alert infected of his prescence. This would be a sneak job. He made his way quickly to an van and climbed in back. Seemed like he wouldn't have to go far for his goal. The back was loaded with military grade weapons, chests of ammos, and a barage of items good for disipating an entire horde. Encluding a few high powered grenades. He grinned.

"Jackpot..." He began to stash the bullet into any pockets he could find, and grabbed a single gun. It seemed like the best option, light weight but powerful. Now he had to get out of the camp without causing a disturbance again. He was about to climb out and walk back towards the hole in the fence when he heard his hunter growling. He knew it was his, because it sounded different. It sounded slightly more human.

Was it alerting him to a danger? That question passed quickly as he heard the tell tale coughing of a smoker nearby. "Aw shit." He exclaimed quietly, holstering his gun and loading it with ammo. He stayed near the side of the truck, not daring to go towards the exit. The smoker could be right there, ready to tongue him and pull him into the crowd of stumbling infected.

Would the hunter help him?

His thoughts were disrupted instantly by the sound of gunshots echoing through the silent compound. They eyes of hundred of infected turned towards the source and began charging all at once. The smoker exploded as a bullet pierced him. Even from here Ellis could smell it. "What the..." he thought quietly, standing stupidly in the back of the van

"Move, move, move!" The voices of humans could be heard in the distance, followed by even more gunshots. Ellis poked his head out of the entrance warily, aware that he might be mistaken for infected. Traversing across the base was a group of 25 or so men, wearing swat armor and holding guns similar to the one Ellis had picked up.

It seemed the military was taking back this base.


	3. The Cabin

Ellis had to think for a moment. Here the military was shooting everything that moved. What was the best way to make himself known to them without getting shot? or did he even want to be found? They couldn't be too far away from where Ro and Nick had been taken, maybe he'd be taken to where they were. Maybe this was where they were. So he had three options- he could run, hide, or get rescued. His chances of both hiding and running held a high chance of getting shot, and he wasn't stupid enough to try that. The only other option was-

"Hey, military! I AIN'T INFECTED! DON'T SHOOT!" He crawled out of the back of the truck with his hands in the air. He wasn't sure why his hands were up, just seemed the right thing to do. He hoped they hadn't gotten his hunter. He hoped to god the thing had escaped.

The military men were alerted to Ellis's presence, and what looked to be the leader directed a few men to go and assist him. He flushed slightly as the three men began to tear at his clothes- they looked floor wounds on his body, checked pockets, tore apart the rest of his tattered shirt, even took off his shoes to check them. They took all the ammo he had just found, and the gun. Meanwhile, two other men guarded the group and protected them.

"Follow!" one of the men barked out. Ellis complies, running bare-chested through the compound, surrounded by CEDA agents in swat gear. One of them radio'd in something, and all of a sudden Ellis heard the sound of helicopter blades whir to life, pummeling his ears even over the constant sound of guns blasting away zombies.

As Ellis crawled into the helicopter his eyes flashed towards outside the compound. On the other side of the fence, he thought he had seen something move. But by the time he was looking for it, it was gone. He had a feeling, it could only be the hunter from before. It had to be.

"...low on gas!" Ellis's ears perked up to the barely audible conversation happening on the ground outside the helicopter.

The two were shouting just to hear each other, giving Ellis a chance to listen in.

"You have a whole half tank, you can make it there just fine!"

"And what if we don't?"

"That doesn't matter. If you don't your goal is still to get this child to the labs!"

"There's no way we can make it all the way-"

"I don't give a shit about your math! We have orders from CEDA to immediately transfer all survivors to the lab for testing."

"But, sir, if we just wait for some gas-"

Ellis couldn't hear the rest, as he was suddenly distracted by the helicopter jumping into life. He looked down through the still open door and saw the pilot staring up in disbelief, shouting something that Ellis couldn't hear. Apparently he was now going to the lab... He wasn't sure if that was good or bad.

The couple men on the plane with him pushed him against the seat and fastened him into a complex series of belts that no one else had one. He felt like a prisoner more than a refugee.

Ellis had never ridden in a helicopter before, and it was exhilarating to say the least. At least it would be, if the view he had wasn't of dying cities, burning skyscrapers and deserted highways and villages. Instead it seemed depressing. He had to wonder how much of the states was like this. Had the infection spread everywhere, or had CEDA effectively stopped the spread?

Without a warning, the helicopter began to stutter, loosing a lot of altitude at once. Ellis's ears popped suddenly and he grimaced. He hated that feeling. They suddenly began to go into a nosedive. Ellis gripped the belts wrapped around him with fear. His eyes shut and his heart began beating faster.

He wasn't exactly sure what he expected, but the moment the helicopter touched ground, he realized what had happened. The helicopter made contact with the earth with a deafening sound of metal deforming and scraping together. Ellis was thrown forward as much as his constraints were allowed, while all the other men were thrown forward further. Eyes wide, Ellis watched as the spine of one of the men snapped and broke through the skin on his neck. Everyone in the helicopter seemed to have some sort of injury when the helicopter finally stopped. One man was dead.

And Ellis was still strapped into his restraints. Everyone seemed shocked at what had happened. Ellis stared at the dead body. It should have had more of an effect, but in times like these, death didn't bother him that much, even death of a human. It was strange. He didn't feel anything for the officer. He probably had a wife, kids, friends, a life. But he just couldn't care less. He was alive and that's all that mattered.

An officer on the ground struggled for breath and spit up blood. His legs and arms were bent at awkward angles, most likely broken. There was a metal pipe impaled through his stomach. "Jesus Christ..." Ellis gasped, finally finding his voice. He leaned sideways to get a look at the pilot. The front of the copter was deformed and smashed beyond recognition. Most likely the pilot was dead too...

"This is why i hate helicopters..." Ellis mumbled to himself. No one on the floor seemed to be doing anything. He was alive and uninjured, thanks to his restraints. He fumbled with the latches and found them locked. "the hell?" He said to himself, pulling on them some more.

He smelled something burning just then. If he had to take a guess it probably would've been the helicopter. Thank god there was no gas left. That would mean no explosion, right? Ellis gave up on the restrains and just sat backwards. The helicopter was angled funny, so he was actually

leaning forward, but whatever. "Hey uh... you don't think you could unlock me, do ya?" He asked the still alive man on the ground. In response, he got a gurgle of blood. "Oh okay, I see..." He said, trying to lighten the situation for himself. He couldn't find sympathy for this man. If it weren't for CEDA, they wouldn't be needed in the first place. He found comfort in placing the blame all on CEDA.

He sat there for a while, staring out side of the copter and trying to think about what he would do. He'd starve if he didn't get out soon. They'd probably start looking for the downed copter eventually. After all, it was carrying an important lab rat. He scoffed. That's all he was to them. He somehow regretted getting roped into this. Maybe escaping would've been better...

Hell, what if a zombie came right now? He'd have no way to defend-

grrrr...

Speak of the Devil and he shall come... Ellis tensed up at the audible growl. A hunter... He looked down at the officers. They both had guns strapped to their back. He tried to bend down to pick one up, but the restraints held him in place. He took in a breath and his eyes went wide as he heard the screech that accompanied their attack. But-

the attack never came. He heard the hunter growling and the sound of another zombie howling in pain. His mind was still reeling from the crash, and it took him a little while to consider it. Had the hunter followed him all this way? How could that even be possible? The sounds stopped and he leaned back, trying to stay as still as possible. He heard a distressed sound from the hunter as it saw the wreckage and dead bodies.

Thanks to the sun, he could see the shadow. It was standing in front of the aircraft and just staring. Ellis was hidden by the side of the copter and it didn't seem the hunter could see him. For the second time today, these questions went through his mind. Did he want to be seen? Or did he want to hide?

It didn't seem he had a choice though as the shadow began to walk forward. Ellis saw the head turn toward him. Was it going to attack?  
A huge weight was lifted off him as the Hunter seemed to smile. It actually smiled. It wasn't too charming, seeing its blood covered teeth, but it was a smile. It had to be his hunter. "Is it... is it actually you?" He asked curiously.

The hunter growled something and then turned to the bodies, cocking his head at them as if demanding an explanation.

"I think our ride ran out of gas. We crashed." He offered.

The hunter grunted, a sound of understanding it seemed. Was he rescued for real? It would seem that way.

"Uh so.. ya think you can let me out?" Ellis asked sheepishly. The hunter gritted his teeth and reluctantly stood up, walking towards him. It seemed it was still hard to be this close to the human. The hunter gripped the restraints and then ripped them out of the back of the seat easily. Ellis stood instantly and grabbed a gun.

"Uh, thanks... I don't even know your name. What should I call ya?" He asked. The hunter growled something. It seemed he was trying to speak, but Ellis just couldn't understand. "I uh... can you repeat that?"

Suddenly the hunter banged his fist on the ground and howled. Ellis jumped back. The hunter was frustrated. He hated not being able to speak like a human. He was trying so hard but all the came out was jumbled growls and snarls. He hated himself at that moment in time. He shook with anger, and in the silence, Ellis wondered what he should do.

"M- maybe you could write it down?" He suggested quietly. The hunter nodded, accepting his loss. He moved to the dirt and scribbled something in the ground. Ellis looked over him and read... "Rem?"

The hunter nodded, a smile on his face again. "Rem, eh? Short for something, I assume? Well okay, Rem. Uh, what do we do now?" They seemed to be in a clearing and as far as Ellis could see there was forests, trees and foliage. Not a single sign of life anywhere. But there had to be something, because there was a dead infected nearby. Either that zombie had travelled a long way, or it had lived somewhere nearby when it turned infected.

Rem grunted something and began to walk around the helicopter and into the forest. Ellis figured he should follow. The hunter probably knew a bit more from his travels than Ellis did from his travels in the air.

Rem... the hunter that was more human than his friends. Good to know. His smile disappeared as he thought back to his "friends" who had abandoned him to die...

He didn't need them now anyway. He had Rem...

Ellis followed the hunter closely. The moon overhead cast clear shadows of the canopy above their head, sending speckled patches of pale light across the twiggy earthen floor. As Ellis walked, the leaves and dirt, along with small twigs, crackled under his weight. His gun was at aim, ready to take out anything that tried to attack them. That was rather useless, though, because whenever anything seemed to get too close, Rem either attacked it or lead them away if it was too powerful.

They had wandered upon a gang of witches once. It was a strange sound, hearing the furtive moans of displeasure in unison. Three unique cries, six red glowing eyes visible past the trees. What were they crying for? He always wondered that. Were they upset about what they'd become, just like Rem? Did that mean that every zombie had the ability to think like Rem?

As he thought about Rem, his eyes rested upon the covered head of the hunter himself. He wasn't sure where they were going, and he was getting a little tired. His body was telling him that now was the time to sleep, and if he didn't get to sleep soon he wouldn't be of any use during the day. He had considered telling the hunter that, but everytime he got close or tried to get his attention the thing growled at him.

He pushed it off as nothing. It was still getting used to not eating humans, and he didn't want to do anything to set the hunter off. Especially since he was doing such a good job at protecting them both.

Rem growled suddenly, stopping in his tracks. Ellis stopped two, a good distance away. He looked around, hoisting his gun again. He hadn't had to fire a single bullet, but he figured if a tank came for some reason he would have to help his little hunter friend. That would be strange though. Come to think of it, seeing as many zombies as he did was strange.

The infected turned when they were bitten, but it was a slow process... Maybe all the people out here had been bitten and tried to escape through the forest, only to turn while here. That seemed likely, at least.

Rem turned and grumbled again, pointing a bony finger through the trees. Ellis squinted to see what the hunter was pointing had, but his night vision wasn't so good. He could faintly make out a darker shape- It was black instead of the blue, like a far off tree. But it was too wide and not tall enough to be a tree.

"Is that... a house? Or something?" He asked curiously. The hunter let out a growl of approval. It had taken a while to recognize the hunter's strange language, but it was like a baby or a puppy certain sounds or gibberish that he used often Ellis had been able to 'translate' so to say. He knew this happy sound he made meant he was agreeing with something.

"Great! An abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods. It IS abandoned... right?" The hunter shrugged his shoulders, and Ellis let out a chuckle. It was strange seeing the hunter do such a gesture. It made him realize that in the end, they were still human. Just slightly different. Rem had remembered his name from his past life, it's not like he died and came back. They were just sick...

Suddenly he felt bad for killing all those zombies like he had. No one would ever know their name. They weren't zombies! He had to stop using that term. They were infected. Infected humans that he gunned down and killed.

The hunter began to move again, and Ellis was forced out of his thoughts. Moving and thinking, any multitasking wasn't for men anyway. The cabin was a lot closer than Ellis thought it was, and as they drew closer he could see a faint light behind the figure.

When they had reached it, he concluded they had been staring at the back side of it. Had they came from the other direction, they would have seen the porch light.

Rem had lead Ellis to the door and pointed to the steps, as if telling him to wait right there. He did so, and watched as the hunter wandered around the building on all fours, head held high as if sniffing the surrounding area.

There was a sudden screech that caused Ellis to jump. He faintly heard the sound of flesh ripping apart. He wished Rem wouldn't kill the zombies, now that he was thinking of them more as humans... It almost made him sick now that he had thought about it.

The sudden sound that ripped through the forests seconds ago dispitated and was replaced with a silence that hung heavily around Ellis. He didn't like this. He couldn't see anything, and he couldn't hear his hunter.

Panic races through him at the thought of loosing his hunter. He would have to go on no matter what. This wasn't healthy, feeling this way over loosing a hunter. His panic was replaced with relieve as he saw the hooded figure rounding the corner, covered in some more blood. He was panting a bit, but there was a small smile on his face. It was a rather evil smile, and Ellis couldn't decide if it excited him or scared him.

He stood and turned to the door. "You think there's anyone in here?" He asked, turning his head around to watch the hunter. Rem shook his head. He seemed to know, actually. With that, Ellis turned the knob. It was unlocked, or maybe it didn't have a lock. The door swung open and Ellis was greeted with a musty smell. Dirt stirred a bit as the door disturbed it.

This place obviously hadn't been used recently, But it seemed modern and well kept. Perhaps it was some sort of vacation home. Thanks, whoever owned this place! He entered the place and coughed a bit. It smelled different from the city, and much different from the country.

He entered further and fumbled around in the blinding darkness. The only light that entered was through the door, and that was very faint moonlight. Ellis nearly screamed when that light source was cut off. Instead he let out a pitiful whimper. It was pitch black now, there were no windows in this place at all.

Ellis stopped in his tracks, afraid to move any further. He couldn't tell if his eyes were open or closed, and since he couldn't see a thing he was afraid to move in case he bumped into something.

Rem growled nearby, a bit behind him. "Rem! I can't see a thing. I know you got night vision or whatever but I don't..." There was another growl, one that sounded like disappointment. Then there was shuffling as Rem moved about the room.

Suddenly his eyes were berated with a blinding light. First blinding darkness, now blinding light. He winced and recoiled, his eyes shutting tight against the single lamp that had suddenly illuminated the stark darkness. He wasn't ready for that, which is why it surprised him that much. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked, glancing around the room.

It was rather cozy, with two couches making a small enclosure around an empty fireplace. The walls were painted a warm, bright red. It made the room feel a little warmer. He could only assume they would come here during the fall or early winter.

The fireplace would have kept them warm... He hoped whoever owned this place got a chance to come back here. Rem let out a growl, one of impatience or annoyance, he couldn't tell wich. Though they usually came hand in hand. He turned. "Yeah? Whaddya want?"

Rem was standing against the far wall. He looked to be suffering, straining against something. Perhaps the enclosed area was making his scent stronger...

The hooded infected crouched and looked away from Ellis. His instincts were telling him to pounc and shred. But those were his infected instincts. The human part of him was feeling something rather strange, being alone in this cozy room.

He was all sorts of conflicted. And all Ellis could do was stand there dumbly. He couldn't help, he would only make things worse. This human was the source of all of his problems, yet he couldn't just abandon him. He had made a vow to himself, and if you can't keep a promise to yourself than you're not human- you were a beast.

In that sense, protecting Ellis was keeping him sane. But it was driving him insane in the process. "Hey, maybe you should go outside and get some fresh air... I'll stay in here where it's safe..." Ellis said quietly. The hunter nodded his head and grunted, walking towards the door and throwing it open. He left quickly, leaving the door wide open.

Ellis had to go over and close the door himself. That was strange, he hadn't seen Hunters able to open doors. They usually just clawed their way through. Maybe this is a half infected or something, a human that only looks infected. But his infected side must be struggling with not eating Ellis.

He admired the little guy's strength. Being this close to him and still not wanting to attack him. He had to be trying so hard. Poor thing.

Ellis lay his gun on a table, stirring up a bit of dust. Then he took a seat on the couch. A plume of old dust rose up, surrounding him. Ellis closed his eyes instinctively and coughed, waving the stagnant air around him.

He'd have to do something about this place if they planned on staying here. Although he doubted they would stay for long. He stood up suddenly. He just couldn't get comfortable in this unfamiliar house.

He decided to explore the small cabin, check out the rooms and see if there was any food or a shirt for him to wear. Maybe a bath with running water... that would be a heaven right now. Especially with a water heater...

The first door he opened was a bedroom. It had 4 beds in it, each against the wall. There was plenty of room in the middle. It seemed to be the children's room. They must have been a big, rich family- the place looked expensive, and four beds? For just the children?

He doubted there would be anything interesting in here, and moved on to the next room. It was a bathroom! He almost moaned from finding one of these. He flipped up the toilet seat and saw the empty toilet, and his heart sank. He tried to flush but nothing happened either. Ellis then tried to turn on the water in the faucet, and there was a sickening sound of rattling pipes, but nothing came out.

Too good to be true, at least he knew this was true since it wasn't exactly the best thing to happen. He sighed and left the bathroom. The rest of the doors were further down the hall, and the light from the one lamp only illuminated so far. He glanced around the walls for some sort of switch. Strange this place had power but not water...

He left the bathroom and wandered further down the hall, his hands rubbing against the walls in search of a light switch. His hand brushed against something and he stopped, examining it a bit. It was a switch, and the moment it was up, the hallway too was flooded with light. He grinned, now able to see more than a couple feet in front of his face.

The next door he opened had his mouth hanging open wide. It was... lavish. That was the only word he could think to describe it. It had a huge queen sized bed in the center against the wall with curtains all around it. There was a huge walk in closet next to the bed, and opposite the closet was the biggest television Ellis had ever seen. He could only imagine that the people who owned this cabin had to be rich as heck.

He smiled widely. "Yup. This is my room." He claimed it already, he wasn't going to give it up to Rem now. He moved through the room, feet stirring up a bit of dust from the lush carpet. He walked over to the closet and looked around. It was sadly empty. There were a few shoes, they were all heels though. There were hangers and plenty of drawers. What use was a walk in closet if you had to keep it this empty?

He sighed. Looked like he'd be shirtless for a little longer then. Maybe there was a town nearby where he could find himself another shirt. He left the closet and turned around, letting out a surprised gasp.

There was a hunter in the doorway, and Ellis hadn't recognized the distinct things that marked it as Rem. He had surprised the hunter with his shout too, who recoiled. Ellis let out a chuckle after the initial shock. How long had Rem been there?

He stood still and looked around. He was about to leave the room, but he wasn't sure about approaching the hunter yet. "Uh... Heh, I need a new shirt." Rem's lips curled into a mischevious grin. There was something behind that grin, Ellis couldn't just place his finger on it.

Rem turned and left the doorway, wandering down the hall. He wanted to know the hunter's plans- were they going to stay here for a while, or would they be headed out after Ellis got some sleep. He was about to leave the room to ask when Rem turned and snarled, pointing back to the bedroom.

Ellis felt like a scolded child caught sneaking out of bed late at night. He nodded quietly and backtracked into the room. It was clear the hunter wanted him to sleep for now... He took a seat on the bed. It squeaked its protest and coughed up a plume of dust. He grimaced and stood back up, whipping the sheets off and shaking them wildly. All this damn dust!

After his little fit, there was dust everywhere. The sheets had stirred up the dust all around, and it stung his eyes a bit. He wondered if they had to deal with all this dust the first day they had to come here. Of course they might never come back here again...

That thought was a little sad. It made him realize that happy days were over. He had lived his previous life happily, he had no regrets when the infection hit. But he hadn't given up on living. He sighed and sat the sheet back down and then himself. He pulled his feet up and layed back, head landing on a slightly dusty pillow.

He pulled the sheets up and over his bare chest, staring straight up at the cieling. He was tired as hell, but he just couldn't sleep. It helped a little knowing that Rem would be there to protect him. Until now the only time he could sleep was in a safe room. He would not have been able to relax here with his friends. They just weren't all powerful, couldn't protect him completely.

Yet with Rem, he felt safe, and he was able to relax because of it. His eyes fluttered closed and he pulled the sheets tighter. The drowsiness hit him like a brick wall, and he was quickly sweeped away into dream land. He dreamt of his escapades through kiddy land, except with Rem instead of the ones who abandoned him.

Rem stood up straight in the doorway, watching the steady rise and fall of Ellis's chest. The sheets had slipped a bit low, exposing his upper torso. He couldn't deny himself anymore. He had labelled it as just an attachment to wanting to be human, an unnatural need to protect a human, which in turn made him human himself.

But he couldn't label it as that anymore. It wasn't hatred for himself that caused him to do this. The thing that had challenged his instincts was love- or perhaps lust. He couldn't quite label human emotions anymore, which frustrated him to no end.

But he was sure he was attracted to the man sleeping in this bed. And he was sure that no matter what happened, he would stick by him. Even if nothing happened, he would feel better protecting the one he was attracted to.

A smile tugged at his lips. He was confident of his self control now that he had taken a while to sort out his head. So he found himself walking quietly to the edge of the bed. He pulled himself up, trying not to disturb sleeping beauty, and he curled himself up at the end of the bed, nuzzled up next to the legs under the cover. And he fell asleep that way, the strong scent of flesh filling his nose. But it no longer drove him into a killing frenzy. It relaxed him...


	4. The Runner

Ellis slept heavily that night. It was the first time he actually got to sleep voluntarily in quite a while. With his companions it was always go, go, go, and he never got a single chance to just sit and relax for a bit, let alone sleep. If he stopped, they would go on without a thought. These thoughts filled his dreams. His dreams were horrible, images of them leaving him behind to die on the bridge, the look on Rochelle's face. Then Coach's mangled body, a hunter leaping off as they attacked it. If only one of them had bullets left back then...

As he dreamt and the memories flooded back, He made a rather startling revelation. The hunter he remembered killing coach... It couldn't be Rem, could it? His eyes popped open. It was pitch black, and Ellis almost came to the conclusion that it was still night. Then he recalled the odd design of no windows in the entire place. It seemed a strange flaw for a cabin like this. Why would someone build a vacation home with no windows?

As he collected himself, the dreams quickly left his mind, as they do when you don't try and instantly remember them, and as they do even when you wish you could remember them right then. He sat up and tried to move his legs, feeling a weight on them.

The weight stirred as he tried to pull his legs away, and Ellis noticed the hunter, curled up like a cat and sleeping on his legs. No wonder he couldn't feel them. He grinned. Perhaps he was over trying to eat Ellis. He reached out a hand to shake the man awake, then stopped, settling for a small tap and a soft voice.

"Hey... Is it mornin' yet? I can't tell." He was just asking for himself, hoping the noise would wake Rem up. The hunter stirred and lifted his head. Mannerisms like these, those of small pets, didn't help Ellis's view of them still being human. But he supposed it couldn't be helped. He tapped his shoulder again and spoke a little louder. "Wake up you silly sleep head, wake up."

The hunter growled, no- more like grumbled. Grumbling his annoyance at being woken up from such a comforting nap. He hopped off the bed, landing much like a cat. Then it seemed Rem realized what he was doing and stood upright. There, that was better. He really looked human now. Well, like an insane serial killer human with pale skin.

He was covered in blood, crusty dried blood. It was everwhere. It kind of scared Ellis. What had he been doing to get all that blood all over him? No, he's done with that, he's moved on from mindless killing. Still, he couldn't deny the blood on the covers. To get from his shirt to the covers, it had to be still wet. That wasn't a good thing.

He frowned. "Rem, you need to take a bath and get some new clothes. And I need to do the same." Indeed, they both needed clean clothes and a shower. Ellis was tired of going shirtless, tired of his ripped jeans, and tired of all this dirt encrusted on his skin. If only this place had running water.

Rem didn't seem to like the idea of bathing. Or changing his clothes. Ellis couldn't tell wich one he was reacting to. Maybe both. "Oh come on, it ain't that bad. Just a little water. Ain't gonna hurt you or nothin'." Rem stretched, a very human thing to do and left the room. Ellis tossed the covers and followed him to the living room.

He was curious as to what time of the day it was. The only light in this place was the one in the living room that they left on. It was still strange that this place had no windows, and Ellis couldn't shake the funny feeling it gave him. Maybe it had a different purpose?

He shook his head, rolling his shoulders as if trying to get the heavy burden of suspicion off of them. Ellis moved to the door and twisted the handle, opening it a crack only to be blinded by the sun. It was low still, but it was very bright because of his unadjusted eyes. He noticed an absence of zombies. For some reason, whenever there weren't any zombies it only made him feel more uneasy. Of course, there was one standing in the same room as him. He shouldn't feel that way anymore. He closed and locked the door, turning around and smiling.

"What say we go an' find the nearest town and get us some new clothes." He suggested, wandering to the table where he left his one and only gun. He wouldn't loose it like he had last time. Rem seemed to roll his eyes. Ellis couldn't tell, his hood was too far down. But he let out a sound that would most likely accompany an eye roll.

"Heh, whatever you say. I don't care what you do, but I'm going to get me another shirt." He said, throwing open the door and walking out quickly. He left the door open, expecting Rem to follow behind. Like a loyal puppy, he did.

Rem almost slapped himself for being fooled, but didn't. As he left the building he closed the door, making sure it wasn't locked so they could get back in once they came back.

This time, Ellis lead the way. Neither of them really knew where they were going, but Rem was keeping track of their travels, in order to find their way back to the cabin. He had been expecting Ellis to stay there for a while. He wasn't sure how long. Until the military came? Until the area was safe? If they did wipe out all the infected, and he was the only one left... what would they do to him?

He shrugged. His brain wasn't in any condition to think too far ahead about his consequences. All he knew was that the cabin was safe, and if Ellis was in it, he was safe too. It seemed a perfectly reasonable solution to having to protect Ellis from chargers and smokers all the time.

Of course, he couldn't control Ellis. That's why they were out here, headed for the sound of a dying city. Or most likely an already dead city. That was more likely than a still alive one. Of course there might be other survivors, or maybe the only ones left had been wiped out by the infected.

No use thinking about it, though. Ellis pushed his way out of a forest and came across a highway. There were cars headed out of the city, all piled up and crashed. The faint smell of a fire lingered, but there was no fire. Ellis hopped over the guard rail and started walking among the pile of cars, Rem following close behind.

They entered the city, not really sure which city it was. There wasn't a sign anyway to tell them- maybe they already passed it. The name didn't really matter though. Ellis quickly realized that he had no clue where they were supposed to go if they wanted to find new clothes.

He sighed. "Can you see anything, a clothes shop or a mall or something?" He asked Rem. The hunter shrugged and let out a quiet screech as he hopped onto the roof of a building. Strange, with Rem gone, Ellis suddenly got a chill. He brought his weapon up and kept aim for anything that moved. The city was eerily void of zombies, yet he was sure there weren't any humans here at all.

There wasn't a single sign of life, save for the life before the infection hit. Cars suddenly stopped in intersections, people dropped whatever it was they were doing to escape... It looked like time had stopped in this city. literally. Everything and everyone left disintegrated into thin air, and progress slowed to a halt... It was a creepy sensation, and Ellis hated being without any help. What if he came across a witch, or a smoker? The damned witches had taken to wandering around during the day, not a very nice thing to bump into.

A light streak passed just in his peripheral vision. He spun and aimed his gun, but whatever it was had disappeared as quickly as he saw it. He tensed. "Rem? Is that you?" He shouted out towards where the figure disappeared.

He wasn't even sure it was a zombie. It was a bright streak in front of the dull sky. Zombies were dull, and they couldn't just pop out of nowhere. He steadied his aim and shouted out again. "REM!"

Nothing happened. He wasn't even sure he was looking in the right direction. He had only caught a slight glimpse in his side vision... A low grumble came from a bit to his right, and Ellis's aim was suddenly locked on a shuffling zombie. Shit, his screaming attracted zombies. Maybe there were some infected here after all,

He took aim, and his finger latched around the trigger. The sudden loudness of bullets ripped through the empty city, and the infected in front of him collapsed to the ground, letting out a pained gurgle.

Great, that's over with. He hoped his shots hadn't attracted a horde or anything. "fu... ungh... what the- shiiit" The voice came from the figure on the ground. It had rolled over and was staring in awestruck terror at the bullet wounds in his stomache. "What the... FUCK MAN! WHY'D YOU SHOOT ME!" He started screaming in pain.

"Holly... shit... You're not infected, are you!" Ellis's eyes went wide in terror. The man was already injured, his leg looked a little broken. On top of that, he had shot the man. "Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit, I am SOO sorry! I didn't... you looked like a... an infected... I didn't mean... are you... gonna be alright?"

Ellis fawned over the man, bending over to look at him. "Fuck no I'm not gonna be alright... I'm dying asshole!"

Ellis noticed the pained look. He had no clue who this guy was, or what he had gone through to be alive to meet with this terrible fate, yet he felt bad for him. Of course he should- he had shot the guy, sent several bullets flying through his flesh.

That was what he was doing to every single infected he came across. He suddenly felt terrible about shooting not only the man, but also every singel infected person he came across. Dammit, he had promised not to let himself get sad about this whole thing. If he got sad, it was all over. He wasn't going to give up.

But what was there to be happy about all this? Where in this situation was happiness? Well, he had Rem. Rem made him happy. Rem also suggested a cure for the infection might be possible. That made him feel bad about taking away all those infecteds' chances of living life again.

No, they had been attacking him first. What was he supposed to do? He jumped when something suddenly touched his shoulder.

He spun around and saw it was Rem. That hoodie was unmistakeable. It was different than all the other ones, a surefire way to distinguish him from all the other zombies. Rem looked down at the man still writhing on the ground. He probably wouldn't live. Maybe death was better than this fate... Was Ellis in the right to decide that? He didn't even know the guy.

Rem grumbled. He could tell this man wasn't infected. If he was, the smell of his blood wouldn't be affecting him this badly. He was using all it took to stop himself from ripping into easy food. Sure it wasn't Ellis, but he thought Ellis might frown upon it if he started eating a man right in front of him.

Ellis turned away. "Listen... I'm so sorry. If I hadn't... If I had stopped to ask before shooting you might have lived on still..." He lifted his gun, and the man started screaming in terror. He suddenly found strength and got to his knees, starting to crawl away.

Was shooting him in the back of the head the right thing to do? He was in pain, that much was certain. What did he have to live for, anyway? Rem tapped the gun, and Ellis looked up with wet eyes. He lowered it as Rem told him to.

The hunter was right, even without having said a thing. Who was he to decide man's fate? He was probably going to die anyway, but there was still a chance that he lived. Ellis turned. "I'm sorry, again... for shooting you." He couldn't bare to look at the blood anymore.

Rem tugged on his pants and started to lead him away from the scene, further into the city. "I... thought he was a zombie. I shot him without even thinking about it! What have I become?" Ellis heard the small sound of a body crumbling to the ground.

Rem growled at no one in particular. If only he could speak words, he could comfort Ellis, tell him it wasn't his fault, that anyone could have made the mistake. But he was stuck in this deformed body whose only design was to kill and maim other people. Now that he thought about it, comfort about that coming from him wouldn't really sound too comforting to people.

But Ellis was different... and he still couldn't speak. Ellis rounded a corner that Rem had lead him to and spotted a sign hanging on the building across the street. "Baby Gap." He let out a chuckle, obviously trying to forget the whole incident. "Hate to break it to you, but that stores for baby clothes. I doubt we'll find something to fit us there."

Rem looked disappointed. He thought he had done a good job. He pouted. Ellis freaked out. "Oh! I uh... I mean, thanks for the help! Don't make that face! Come on! We'll find somewhere!"

Rem chuckled. It was rather creepy, throaty sounding coming from the hunter. But Ellis could sense the humour behind the chuckle. The human in him was definitely still there.

Ellis looked around. Every other store around here was boarded up. It looked like they had been use as bases, strongholds against the waves of infected. That must have been easy when the infection first spread, when there was a tank every 100 feet, or a smoker constantly wrapping its slimy digit around you... "Now what?" Ellis said casually. The hunter shrugged, and Ellis once again laughed at how silly it looked on this powerful creature- and once again he had to remind himself that Rem was still a human, not a creature...

"Maybe we can find some sort of map." The sun was still low in the sky, slowly raising and sending its heat over the towering buildings around them. They had plenty of time to search for some sort of clothing store. And Ellis knew nothing would happen to them with Rem here.

Silence set in the dark city. The sun was sinking slowly behind the sky scrapers that once were, casting bright purples and orange across the city. The figure's shadow was long in front of it. It wandered slowly, the shadow following right behind. His shadow was all that kept loyal to him. As the shadows over powered the dim light from the sun, and the stars slowly began to make themself visible, The figure shuddered and came to a halt. The dead yet still moving city froze him up.

He couldn't continue. The darkness crept up on him and immobilized him. He was too scared to continue. His legs shook and he collapsed to the ground. The quietness of the city was lit up with his wails. His form hunched over, claws tight in his lap. Where was everyone? Why did he feel so alone? What happened... to his protector?

His pitiful moans were cut short by the sudden sound of clattering next to him. He let out a gasp and his head jolted up. His eyes rested on a lone figure nearby. He was suddenly blinded by artificial light. "Turn off that light!" The words seemed garbled to him, but he almost recognized them. The light was snapped off, but that didn't make him any less angry.

He let out a warning growl- trying to say leave me alone. Couldn't they tell he was already in enough pain? As his eyes adjusted, he stood and let out another growl, louder this time. He focused on the face, and his mind suddenly jolted. Pain coursed through his body and he was suddenly furious. He was just like him! His growls turned into high pitched screams. This abomination did this to him! It was all his fault! His feet pounded against the ground, covering the distance between the terrified man and himself in little time, despite the fact that he was running as fast as he could.

"SHOOT IT! SHOOT IT!" The voice screamed. That only angered him more. His body was suddenly pierced by the fiery hot metal bullets, and he let out a cry of agony, but didn't persist his chase of the man. All too soon he was upon the human. His claws lashed out and dug themselves deep into the man's chest, ripping through the soft flesh and out through his side. His wails continued as he attacked the man who had done this to him. All too soon, the man's cries stopped.

And Then he was once again overcome by a feeling of anxiety, overwhelming sadness, and debilitating fear. Bullets continued to shoot at him, and he stared down at the man he had killed. Now there was no chance of being rescued... He had killed his only lifeline out of this hellish world of fear.

He let out a ripping scream that came deep from his throat and then attempted to shield himself from the barrage of bullets as he ran. His head hung low to protect that as well, arms covering his face. His claws scratched painfully against his skin, drawing even more blood. But that was nothing compared to the fear of the humans chasing him.

The bullets stopped ringing in his ear, yet he continued running, past the edge of the city, weaving through abandoned cars on a highway. He didn't stop until he noticed where he had ran to. He was in the middle of a forest, the dark shadows around in him creeping in on him, swallowing him whole it seemed. His head pounded with fear. He spun around, looking for his beloved protector. But as usual, he saw no one. He collapsed to the grass once more, weeping quietly.

By the time Ellis and Rem had found a suitable clothes shop, the sun hung heavy in the sky, beating down on top of the pair. To Rem, it was a welcome sensation. Ever since the infection hit he had always felt a little chilly, as if his skin no longer retained heat. It probably didn't. Ellis grinned as he spotted the store. It was a small store, on the edge of the large city in a ratty looking neighborhood. He guessed that this place was where all the druggies or whatever lived, or the people on welfare.

The shop itself looked run down, and just a little shady. There was a barely readable sign handing askew above the glass doors that read "Big N' Tall." He doubted he would find anything that fit him reasonably in here, but it was better than running around shirtless, and much better than taking the shirt off one of the disposed infected. "Well Rem, this will have to-" he stopped mid sentence as he caught something in the corner of his eye. Rem had spotted it too.

Ellis's hair stood on end at the threatening growl that emanated from the hunter beside him. Besides trying to assert fear, there was a hint of it present as well. That small amount of fear threatened to crush Ellis's courage. "What... what is that. I've seen that before, earlier today."

Rem didn't respond. His head suddenly jerked sideways and in an instant the hunter had leaped 180 degrees facing the other direction. Ellis wasn't fast enough to catch the flash of white he had seen before, but he knew it had been there, moments before his eyes could catch it. He had brushed it off last time as being only Rem, but he couldn't do that now that Rem was standing right beside him.

It was a bright blur, a flash of white that had no discernable shape. It also seemed to be slightly reflective, like it was glowing or something. "What the hell is that..." Ellis muttered some more. Whatever it was had the ability to move impecably fast, almost faster than light since he could barely make out a shape.

"Go. Hide." Rem managed to choke out before turning and pushing Ellis towards the door to the Big and tall shop. Ellis was ready to protest that he wouldn't let Rem out there alone, but was startled when the hunter followed, closing the door behind them and knocking over a shelf to block it at least a little bit.

Whatever it was, Rem was scared of it enough to run away. And nothing did that to his hunter, Not a smoker, not a charger, not a tank, hell not even a witch. Normally Rem would jump and maim whatever threatened them, but his suddenly different tactic of run and hide sent worry coursing through Ellis's blood.

The two made their way to the back of the store. The grimy window let in little light, leaving the back of the store barely visible. Ellis turned to stare out the window. It was difficult to see through, smudged with dirt and blackened from the outside with smoke.

Then he saw it. It was no longer skitting around at blazing speeds. Instead it was meandering slowly down the middle of the street. Although, it did seem like it had a purpose. It was searching for something, searching for them.

It didn't seem like the normal infected. There was hardly a trace of humanity in it's thin, frail looking form. Taught pure white skin was pulled over mutated, deformed muscle and bone structure. It's arms and legs went up towards the sky before jutting down to support him, like a spidder. Bones were protruding almost painfully it seemed, pushing against the taught flesh.

And it's face. The glowing white skin had stretched to cover his whole face. It's head was elongated to a razor sharp point, and missing from its features were eyeballs. Not eye sockets, just the eyeballs. The second skin seemed to conform perfectly, dipping into empty eye sockets and opening up a bright view of the thing's decaying brain matter.

It's mouth seemed to be in a permanent snarl of pain and sadism. Teeth lined from the very back of the gums all the way around, at least two rows. Where the skin got in the way of the teeth was red and jagged, irritated and falling off. Yet it still kept it's pristine supernatural color.

Ellis wanted to bolt before it spotted him, and had he not felt the hunter suddenly take the hillbilly's hand in his, he knew that that wasn't the right thing to do. "Hear... not see... move... seee" It struggled to keep the growling and grunting to a minimum, and Ellis had a little trouble making out the words, nevermind what it meant.

What he did get was that the Hunter didn't want him to move or talk. Ellis was rooted to the spot with fear anyway. The thing seemed to be sniffing the air with a nonexistant nose- the skin seemed to cover that up as well. It turned it's head slowly towards the store window, as if it was able to see even without eyeballs. It let out a horrifying screech, it sounded like it's voicebox had turned to metal.

Ellis closed his eyes and held his breath, hoping the thing didn't notice them. He felt like he was staying perfectly still, but his heart pounding in his chest sounded like a drum beating in his ears. The hunter beside him, who still had his hand, wasn't making a single sound or movement. The usual constant growls it made, or it's ragged breathing were not present as they usually where.

After a moment, Ellis peeked one eye open and saw the Monster crawling away down the street, and before it was no longer visible from the window, it blurred into a white flash and seemed to disappear. Ellis allowed himself a deep shaky breath and let his shoulders go lax. He had been tense the whole time, unable to relax.

Rem finally let out a snarl. He hated showing that weakness to Ellis, but he had seen those things in action before. They were rarer than tanks, but deadlier than three witches and five tanks combined. "Was that... an infected? They're still mutating! i've never seen anything like that before!"

Rem chuckled. He knew that they could be easily avoided by staying entirely still, but that had been too close a call for him. Usually he managed to spot them much sooner than this and would be able to put a couple miles between them. If this place had one of them running around, it definitely wasn't a place to keep Ellis around.

He squatted, reverting back to feral mode, then growled and pointed a finger at the clothes rack. Ellis got the hint. "Okay, okay. I get a shirt, and we're out of here. Got it." He went to the smallest section they had, which was still about 10 times too big for him.

He chose a simple t-shirt that barely managed to stay on his shoulders, threatening to slip off if he moved around too much. The hem stopped somewhere just above his knees. He felt like he was swimming in shirt. Rem surpressed a dark chuckle, and Ellis shot him a dirty look. "Not like there's anything else here that will fit me!" He defended. Maybe he would've had more luck at the Baby Gap, some maternity clothes or something...

He shrugged, not really wanting to spend anymore time in this city. He had a feeling the reason this place was deserted was because of that thing that was on the prowl. He had to give it a name. Usually coach was the one to come up with the names... He wondered if Coach would've stopped and come back to help him if he had been alive then...

He felt a pain in his chest and shook his head, trying to forget about the painful abandonment. There was no question about it, coach would've come back, even if Nick and Rochelle wouldn't. Coach would risk his life for any of his team members. "Come on, Rem. Let's get out of here."

The Hunter didn't let Ellis leave until he had checked around to make sure the thing wasn't nearby. After a torturous long time of his head darting around, he gestured Ellis to leave the store. Then he squatted down and cocked his head, patting the lower part of his back.

"Uh... What?" Rem growled and tried to pantomime a piggy-back ride. "You want me to... get on your back?" He chuckled. He was a grown man, and taller and heavier than the hunter. But he had no doubt the hunter could still travel faster even with all the extra weight.

"Uhm, if you're sure..." He stuck his desert eagle into his back pocket, turning the safety on just in case. Then he threw one leg over the hunter's dirty back, stradling him. He wrapped his arms around the man's neck, flush against his back. He had a feeling he would need to hang on tight for this ride. He felt the hunter lift his legs up and was suddenly being held up by the hunter.

In an instant the hunter was off. He was leaping up to the rooftops of buildings and landing almost weightlessly. They covered a lot of land in a short amount of time, and in an instant they were back on the highway, then over the barrier and headed back to the cabin. It took a fifth of the time to get back, and Ellis was honestly impressed.

When they arrived, Ellis slipped off the Hunter's back and smiled. "Thanks for the ride, Rem!" Rem was beaming at this, but Ellis could tell it had tired him out a lot, even if he was trying to hide it. Ellis saluted him and then chuckled, turning to head into the cabin.

He froze when he noticed something was wrong. The door was wide open. They had closed the door, he remembered clearly. Rem noticed it as well, and let out a warning growl. "Waddya think's in there, Rem?" Normally infected just pounded on the door until it broke, but this one showed no signs of stress, someone who knew how to open doors had been in there, and still could be in there.

Ellis started to approach the door cautiously. However, the moment he got closer, he didn't need Rem's sudden jump into action to tell him not to get any closer. From the open door came the sound of weeping. Unusual about it was the deep sound it held, the crying of a male.

"Maybe it's a human? Sounds like a young boy!" Rem shook his head at this. He couldn't smell any human nearby, it was definitely infected. Ellis noted how sure he seemed. "So it's... a male witch?" He said cautiously. "He seems to have taken residence in our cabin. What do we do about that?" Ellis whispered, careful not to garner the witch's attention.

Rem pointed the spot Ellis already stood, as if saying STAY. Ellis did just that. "Be careful!" He said quietly as the hunter began a quiet crawl into the house.

Rem looked around the place. The room was still illuminated by the lamp, and in the doorway leading to the kitchen, he saw the hunched over form. His weeping was quiet, as if he had been cried out. As he attempted to get closer, a better view, the Witch was alerted. He let out a small gasp.

"Who... who's there?" He asked quietly. This startled the hunter, hearing the witch speak. It didn't struggle over the words, or fumble over clarity. It spoke with ease. This of course angered Rem, who had such a hard time getting out single syllable words. He let out a quiet growl, the only way he could communicate with other infected. Thankfully the witch seemed to understand.

"Not here to hurt you. This is our house."

"Our? I see no one else with you." He tensed, his hands twitching, clawed fingers flexing as if readying for an attack.

"Me and human. Outside."

"You travel with a human, yet you aren't able to speak like one?"

He let out a growl that had no meaning. At least the conversation had seemed to distract the witch from whatever seemed to be upsetting him.

"Leave house. Now." He said with a threatening tone.

"But... It's warm here. I like it here..." He looked down towards the counter sadly. "You're kicking me out. You're gonna..." he sniffled, "gonna just put me out on my own... just like him" His eyes started to water up and he began sobbing.

Rem grew exasperated. He didn't want another outbreak from the witch. "No! Stay, if want. Not attack human!"

He wiped a tear using his knuckle, careful not to scrap his razor sharp claws against his face. "I... I won't... if you let me stay."

Rem eyed the witch warrily. This was risky. Witchs were emotionally unstable, If Ellis did anything to set him off, intentionally or not, things could go bad very fast.

"Please... I'm just so lonely out there. I'm cold, the forest is dark and scary. It's warm here, bright, happy..."

"Fine. Stay. Attack human, you die."

He left the house and tugged on Ellis's shirt. Ellis hadn't been able to hear the conversation, but got that the hunter wanted him to come inside. "What about the witch? There's no other way out of the house, he's still in there... You sure it's safe?"

Rem shook his head no. "Friend-ly" he managed to grunt out. The way the witch talked fluently made him want to try to speak better himself.

"I get it, it's friendly, but I have to watch myself around him, eh?"

Rem nodded quickly, glad Ellis picked up on it so quick.

"I can't say I'm too happy about sharing a house with a witch but... I've never seen a male witch before!" Ever optimistic, he was.

The two walked together to the open door and stepped in. The witch had left the kitchen and stood on the other side of the couch, waiting to face the human. He had a look of despair on his face, however when he spotted the human the hunter was traveling with, it turned to shock.

"Ellis...?"


	5. The Wandering Witch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> eh

There was a long silence that hung heavy in the windowless room. Only the ragged breathing of the hunter crouching protectively in front of Ellis dared to penetrate the silence. It was a moment longer before anyone opened their mouth to speak. It was the witch standing in the entrance to the kitchen.

"Ellis... It's me! Don't you remember!" As he spoke a lump formed in his throat and he choked back the onslaught of tears. Unsuccessfully. "You... you forgot me! You just left me there and forgot me! I was so scared... I was alone!" Ellis tried to speak, but couldn't find the words to do so. He looked so familiar, and he had to know the guy because the witch knew him.

The witch began a charge toward Ellis, but Rem acted fasted, pouncing forward to meet the witch. He simply fell backwards onto his back, Rem landing on top of his chest. "Ellis! Ellis help!"

Ellis swallowed his own lump before he spoke. "Rem, Get off of him... I know this guy. It's..." He couldn't speak the name. It brought back bitter memories and made his heart ache. He closed his mouth and turned his head away, unable to look at the witch anymore. It hurt him too much to do so.

"Just get off, okay?" With slight hesitancy, Rem pushed off the witch's chest, who simply pushed himself up into a sitting position and folded his legs together before letting out pitiful sobs that racked his whole body. Ellis approached him carefully and crouched down in front of him.

"It's... is it really you, Keith?" The witch let out a startled sound and it's arms wrapped around Ellis' slender frame. He let out a small pained sound as the claws simply grazed across his back, cutting his shirt and skin effortlessly even though he knew the witch had not intended to. He only returned the hug.

"I didn't forget about you Keith... I left because... because It was too much. Seeing you sick..."

"Your promise though... you said nothing would happen to me..."

"I said that a lot, didn't I? But you've gone through worse and lived, right?" He forced a smile to his face. Keith's eyes were still wet, but he allowed himself a small nod.

Rem stood by, wary of this strange, possessive feeling quelling up in his chest. He didn't like the Ellis was embracing this witch. He didn't like it at all. Ellis finally broke the hug, wincing again as the claws once again ran against his skin. The new shirt he was wearing wouldn't last long, he could tell.

Ellis cleared his throat. "Rem this is... Well this is Keith... Back before... everything happened. We were... b-" He faltered. "Friends. We were friends." At this the witch's eyes grew wide, and a pout formed on his face. "Just... friends?"

Ellis sighed, not immune to the puppy dog eyes. "Well more than friends. Some people would label it as boyfriends..." He said loudly and quickly. Almost instantly his face was tomato red.

Rem did not take this news well at all. He let out a possessive yell, one that sent shivers down Ellis's spine. There was so much emotion in that single sound. Rem was on the witch in an instant. "You will leave now! I don't care about what I said earlier!"

Keith began sobbing hysterically, thrashing around. The hunter had his arms pinned down on the floor. "Ellis! Ellis!"

Ellis was shocked into action and ran full force into Rem to knock him off. "HEY! RELAX! CALM DOWN!" He shouted, sensing the hostility in the air. As soon Keith was able to, he bolted up and clung to Ellis's arm, sobbing on his shoulder. "What's wrong with you, Rem! He's not a bad witch!"

Stupid, naive, ignorant, blind boy... That wasn't the problem, obviously! Rem eyed the way the witch clung onto Ellis... HIS Ellis. Without another word he pounced away, through the door and out the house. He didn't want to watch that anymore. If he did, he might loose control and do something bad.

"REM! WAIT!" Ellis didn't get up to go after him though. Rem only chided himself for thinking he would, for thinking he had a chance at all with the human. He bounded through the forest and to a small river, hopping up onto a tree growing along the bank. He still couldn't scrub the picture of the slutty witch rubbing on his Ellis... It wasn't right! Ellis was HIS! He had been protecting Ellis this whole time, And then this KEITH comes in here and bats his eyelashes and suddenly has Ellis on a string!

And... they had had relations in the past. That really shouldn't anger Rem as much as it did, but he was beyond human thinking. Or below it, if you really thought about it... As he sulked in his tree, he found himself too wound up in wallowing in his anger to notice the intense gaze on his back, or to hear that slimy cough a distance away...

Ellis sat on the couch, Keith on the loveseat perpendicular to it. It had taken a while for the witch to calm down, and still he was sobbing and hiccuping occasionally. Ellis took the initiative this time. "Keith... I know I abandoned you... But you have to understand where I was coming from. You were... emotionally unstable. You tried to kill me..."

Keith shook his head. "No no... that wasn't me! You gotta believe me! I'm different now... just sick is all... I wasn't in control! I didn't mean to kill her either!" Ellis choked back his own sobs. His mom... She was already sickly and prepared to pass away any day now, although not from the zombie outbreak. Or at least, they hadn't expected that to be the cause of her death.

"Besides... That was the day you broke it off with me too... I was just... angry... And you remember? You promised that you'd stick with me, that we could still be friends, close friends... that you'd still protect me and I'd protect you... that we had each other's back."

"Yeah, and then you went and turned zombie and went crazy on us..."

Keith drooped. This wasn't exactly the way he had pictured their reunion. He felt another burst of crying fits coming on. Ellis noted this and let his shoulders relax. "Look, it's just been hard... We're cool now, right?" He said, beaming his smile.

Keith couldn't help but feel the infectious happiness in the smile. "I want to say yes... But I'm not wanted here either. Don't worry, I can tell... I have to leave..."

Ellis shook his head. "No, no! You'll not go anywhere! You can stick with us! I'll straighten Rem out and-"

"I have to... I'll only get in the way... Like you said I'm not very emotionally stable right now..." The pale, once tan and lively, Keith stood up from his position, sauntered over to Ellis and planted his lips on the hillbilly's. It was a brief kiss. "You know I still love you, and maybe we'll meet later on... I just can't... I can't stay in this place."

"It's the house? I know it's strange, it's got no windows but..."

"No, it's not the house... God, you always were naive, weren't you..." It was strange seeing the witch leave calmly. Strange knowing that it was Keith, the one he idolized, the one who idolized him. The one he had learned how to live life to it's fullest from. Strange seeing one of the few people he dared to get too close too leave... Strange just like it was on the bridge. He somehow felt like he was being betrayed again, although this time he knew he was being left because of a strong friendship, not because a weak relationship was being broken.

It was strange, and all Ellis could do was stare at the door,at the figure wandering through the dark forest, stare out into the enshrouding darkness until he could no longer see the figure at all. He sat there, staring out the door until another figure came into sight. This figure skulked into the house and shut the door behind him, sniffing the air cautiously.

Rem noted the witch was gone, and noted how Ellis only seemed to be staring vacantly at the now closed door, as if he could still see right out it. He let out a grunt to see if maybe his arrival had gone unnoticed. Ellis's head turned slowly towards the Hunter. "He's gone, Rem..." Nothing else was said. The sadness in that one sentence was enough to tell Rem that Keith was someone Ellis really cared about.

And now that he was gone, not to seem rude, he didn't feel as- dare he say it?- jealous. Now he felt like he could accept the Witch. As long as he wasn't present, anyway. He thought back to how the Witch had hugged his Ellis, how Ellis hand't minded at all, and had returned the gesture.

He stood slowly and sat on the couch next to him, then somewhat awkwardly wrapped his arm around Ellis's neck, pulling gently. The man needed to persuasion, and in an instant he was leaning against the bloodied hoody, crying quietly. Rem embraced him, and almost couldn't feel happy for holding his Ellis because of how pitiful he sounded. Almost. He felt like... like purring...

Keith's courage drained quickly. After being confronted by the hunter, his mind had worked it all out immediately. Of course, he doubted Ellis even realized, with how blind he is to others' feelings... Keith recalled having to be utterly straight forward with him... But he realized the way the hunter felt about Elli.s

He also knew he had no chance at all with Ellis, and had an inkling of suspicious the hunter didn't either. So he had drew up his only courage and used it to walk out of that house with dignity. He didn't need this stress in his life. He supposed he had it pretty good. Free everything, no job...

Darkness, fear... Loneliness... He didn't make it very far in the darkened woods before he broke down in tears, collapsing on the spot onto the pine covered ground. Who was he kidding, he didn't have anything left in this world except the tattered clothes on his back...

\---

Ellis had fallen asleep against the warm body cradling him. Rem had stayed in the same position, allowing the man to sleep. After what seemed like an eternity filled with happiness, Rem's head finally leaned to the side and he allowed his eyes to close.

It wasn't until morning that Ellis stirred. Or at least it felt like morning. The small lamp was all that illuminated the place. His eyes opened and he blinked the tired itchiness out of them. He pushed off his warm pillow- the hunter- and stretched. Rem's eyes snapped open, instantly alert at the disturbance of this peaceful moment.

Ellis stood from the couch and opened the door slowly, checking for anything in the immediate area. A rancid smell crept to his nose. It reminded him of the acrid smoke the Smokers released when killed, but it was faint. Perhaps a smoker had just passed through.

The sun was still ver low in the sky, and the stars were almost still visible. Must still be early morning, He'd judge the time at around 5:40 or so. He usually didn't wake up this early, but he had cried himself to sleep early in the night. He wasn't proud of that, but Keith had been his lover, his best friend. To see him so... depressed and... sick. He was a zombie now...

Rem sniffed the air around the door, noticing the smell of the smoker as well. However his trained nose picked up something else. It seemed as if the smoker had stood there a while. His smell had seeped into the ground just outside the door. Regardless, the smoker was no where close anymore. No use getting worked up over it. Maybe it had been trying to break the door down but given up long ago...

Ellis closed the door and turned to the living room again. Rem stood next to him quietly. Ellis stared at the living room, wondering what they were going to do today. Really, there was nothing to do. Maybe...

He turned his head to Rem, noticing his dirt covered skin, his filthy and tattered hoody. "I think it's time for a bath." He said, a slight hint of playful evilness present in his voice. Rem hissed, like a cat, at the thought. He shook his head in protest.

"Oh come off it, it's not that bad!" Rem eyed him, his eyes blazing with strenght. He would not give in to this. There was no way in hell Ellis could make him bathe.

Minutes later found the two standing in front of a shallow creek, Rem looking defeated and pouting. All Ellis had to do what bat his eyelashes and say the magic word, and Rem would do anything for him. And he definitely wasn't proud of that fact.

The water ran clear, and the rocky creek-bed was plainly visible. There was probably 3 or so feet of water along this small stretch of creek. Ellis dipped his hand in the water. "It's cold..." He observed. The air against his now wet hand only intensified the cold.

He was sorely regretting agreeing to bathe with the hunter. That was the only way he had gotten Rem to agree. He really had needed to bathe though, so it wasn't all that bad. But the water was freezing. He had brought two towels from the house with them, expecting it to be a little cold. But not this cold.

Rem wanted to back out, but felt like he had a duty to hold up. Or maybe the prospect of seeing ellis with no clothes on was just too good to pass up. He grinned evily, the facial gesture hidden by his low hanging hood. "Well, Rem. You first." Rem looked up, wiping the smug look off his face and replacing it with a look of defience.

"Fine, same time." He said, compromising. Without hesitating, Ellis lifted the hem of his extremely large shirt, pulling it up over his head. Decensy forgotten, he watched with hooked fascination as the shirt was discarded and Ellis had begun to step out of his overalls.

His usually pale face gained some coloration as he stared on, not even trying to be subtle anymore. Once he had stripped to nothing but his loose hanging boxers, he turned to Rem, noticing he was still fully clothed. "I'm not doing this alone, ya know." He said with a grin, not even concerned about being naked next to the other man.

Rem let out a grumble of dissatisfaction and turned his back to Ellis. He felt a little more reserved about his nudeness than the country boy. He had a little bit of trouble taking his hoody off. He couldn't remember the last time he had taken it off, and the duct tape had to be loosened a bit to allow him to remove his arms. The same had to be done to his pants, but when it came to taking those off, he hesitated.

"Oh geeze. A self consciouss hunter?" Ellis chuckled, but turned around anyway, allowing the hunter a bit of privacy. He stepped out of his own boxers as well, and a moment later he heard the sound of a body jumping into the water. He did the same.

The dirt under the bed was stirred up, causing a cloud to obstruct view of anything under the water. Rem was thankful for this as he kneeled, the water coming to just above his waist. The running water sent a chilling coldness into his very bones. Ellis had his arms wrapped around his chest as he shivered uncontrollably.

"It's really cold!" Along with the earthy brown dirt that was stirred up from the bottom of the creek, the running water swept off dried blood and who knows what else from the two, sending a strange mix of dark earthen colors and red down the stream. Even though it was cold, it felt good to get clean. For Ellis anyway.

Rem felt extremely uncomfortable in the water. The dirt was settling down around them, so he kicked his feet around a bit, stirring it up again. Ellis dipped down lower into the water, letting it consume him up to his neck. His hands scrubbed in the cloud of dirt disturbing the water around them.

Rem turned his back on Ellis and began to scrub himself with the chilling water as well. He had to admit, his skin did feel better now that there wasn't months of caked on dirt around it. And it looked better too, healthier. He didn't look as dead as he felt.

Ellis dipped his head backwards and allowed the water to attempt to dislodge the particles of dirt nestling in his hair. He scrubbed with his fingers, but without shampoo it wouldn't get very clean. Still, it was better than nothing. Once he had done the best he could, he turned to look at the hunter. His body had gotten used to the chilling waters by now, and it wasn't all that bad.

Rem had his back turned to him, leaving him wide open for any attack. Ellis grinned evily as he let himself splash the hunter.

Rem let out a surprised growl, twisting around in the water to face Ellis. His foot slipped on a rock and he fell backwards with a splash, his whole body submerged in the icy waters. He resurfaced, gasping for air and splashing about wildly. The shocking coldness stunned him into inaction for only a moment before his eyes zeroed in on Ellis. He swung his arm in the water, and his strenght aided in creating a miniature tidal wave.

It knocked into Ellis, sending him flying backwards. He was a better sport about it though, and just laughed. This loosened Rem up a little bit, and they soon got into a friendly water fight, enjoying the time they spent together, away from the gloom and depression of the world around them.

In fact, they both got so distracted they barely noticed that one of their outfits had been snatched away.


	6. The Thief

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning, non-con ahead

Rem stood on the shore of the small creek, hair dripping and turning the dirt around him into mud. He had a towel wrapped around his waist, and his eyes were fixated on the spot where his clothes should be. Ellis was just pulling on his overly large shirt when he noticed what Rem had.

Rem turned to Ellis and growled, expecting the male to have played a cruel joke on him. Ellis just stared. "What's that for?" Rem pointed to the absent spot on the ground where his clothes were.

"Give!" He managed to choke out.

"I don't got them!" Ellis defended himself. Rem eyed him suspiciously, and his face of anger turned to one of despair. What had happened to his clothes? He couldn't walk around in nothing but a bath towel... It was too embarassing. Especially with Ellis watching.

He scurried around them, trying to see if maybe the wind had picked them up and carried them away. He checked the trees and even wandered down the river to see if they had fallen in. He didn't see them at all. After a while, he returned to Ellis, who was lounging out on a large rock.

"Find 'em?" He asked. Rem shook his head. Ellis could barely hold back a giggle. "Maybe someone took off with them."

That only brought the suspicion back to Ellis. "What did you do with them!" He screeched in desperation. Ellis shook his head.

"I didn't take them, honest." Rem's shoulders drooped.

"Not funny anymore!" He said, a sad pout on his face. Ellis sighed.

"I swear on my life, I didn't do anything to them... Maybe we can find some back at the cabin?" He suggested. Rem didn't seem to like that idea. He had grown fond of those clothes, although he didn't know why. It sort of defined him. He wasn't happy about loosing them.

But he had no other choice, could he? He was already growing tired of having to hold the towel closed around his waist. Ellis couldn't help but laugh at the situation. He hadn't caused it, of course. But who or what would want Rem's clothes? Actually, the more he thought about it, the more dangerous it seemed.

They hadn't spotted whatever had taken his clothes. Maybe it was the Runner- that's what he decided to call the white monster from the city. But no, that didn't make sense. Why would the runner steal their clothes- not like they tasted very good, or at least they didn't taste better than the two meals in front of it.

As they made their way back to the cabin, Rem's nose twitched as he smelled something familiar. He let out a warning growl and stopped, putting his hand out to stop Ellis. He smelled a smoker nearby, but it was a familiar smell. It was the exact same scent as the one that lingered by his door.

Something was going on, and Rem didn't like it one bit. Why didn't the smoker just show himself? Of course, the smoker wasn't the one who had taken his clothes, that was just too absurd of an idea even to consider. What would a smoker want with the hunter's clothes? What would anyone want with his clothes?

His ears worked over time, craning to see if he could hear the faintest of surpressed coughs, the slimy hacking noise of a smoker, anything... But he heard nothing. When he was certain that the smoker wasn't around anymore, he began herding Ellis back to the cabin.

The moment they were inside, Rem slammed the door shut and locked the bolts. They were in darkness once again- Ellis had decided against leaving the lamp on all the time. After all, who knows how much power they had left in this place. So rem stumbled in the dark, his eyes spotting the lamp even in pitch darkness, and he was about to switch it on when he noticed the absence of something. His towel.

"Rem? Light please?" Rem let out a growl and Ellis rolled his eyes. "Fine, I'll get it." He had learned the layout of the room enough to remember where the lamp was. When he turned it on, he spotted Rem standing there, the towel held up by the hunter's hand no longer around his waist, but the frong of it just barely covering the necessary parts.

Ellis let out a guffaw and his cheeks flushed. "Er, sorry." He turned around and allowed the hunter to adjust. His heart was beating fast at the sight, although he wasn't sure why. He vaguely remembered this as the feeling he had when he and Keith had went skinny dipping that one time...

Keith... His smug grin was wiped off his face at the memory of his friend. Ellis peeked over his shoulder to see if Rem was decent yet, but he was gone. Probably off searching for something to wear. Ellis decided to join him. He found Rem in the kids' room, tearing it apart looking for something to wear.

His towel had been discarded, and Ellis only stared a little bit. Or he thought it was only a little while. He forced himself to move on to the other room, the adults' room. He entered the closet, kicking all the shoes out of the way. The closet was still as empty as ever, save for a few winter coats hanging in the back. He pushed them aside and saw something he had missed the last time he looked.

A small door, barely big enough for him to enter. A small inset served as a handle, and he pulled it open. It slid right into the wall, instead of swinging out or in. He had to duck to enter the the door. He was greeted with a musty smell and all-consuming darkness. He took a tentative step forward, and his face hit something, a string hanging from the cieling.

He grabbed and pulled, and the room was sparsely illuminated by a small, flickering lightbulb hanging from the cieling. He glanced around, noticing he was at the top of a staircase that led down to a furnished room. It looked like they tried making it a cozy place, but gave up. The foundations for the rest of the house were still visible and the dry walls were plainly visible.

Along one wall was a huge shelf stacked high with canned foods and MREs. He had a feeling that this was a bomb shelter. He also knew, now, why this house had no windows. This wasn't a vacation home, it was an emergency home, an emergency shelter. Inset into the wall was a large vault, the door hanging open. The glint of the guns seemed to be calling out to him.

It didn't seem like the family had made it to this place in time. A lot of good it did. He walked down the old wooden steps, hearing them creak as he did so. The walls not covered up by drywall seemed to be metal, probably titanium or something stronger. He had no clue how thick they were.

He opened the vault door the rest of the way and stared in awe. He always was a sucker for big guns. He grabbed one near the front and examined it. It looked like it had never been fired at all. What use was buying all these guns if they never intended to use them? Maybe they had, and just didn't get a chance. On the door of the vault, in shelves like you find on a fridge, sat bullets, sorted by size. He grinned. They made this easy for him.

He sat the gun on one of the couches and bolted up the stairs. Standing in the closet, he called out to Rem. The hunter appeared in a flash, the towel once again wrapped around his waist. Rem bolted, thinking Ellis had found some clothes for him to wear. But what he had found was something else entirely.

He followed Ellis into the room and gawked at the huge selection of guns. There was enough food to last 10 years, it seemed. The place wasn't as dusty as the rest of the house was, either. Airtight. If dust made it back here, then it wasn't much of a bomb shelter.

The idea of settling down here was suddenly an option for both of them. To Rem, it seemed the perfect place to keep Ellis safe. But he knew Ellis would not have the same idea. And he didn't. Ellis's heart didn't like the idea of taking residence in some stranger's house. Not just because it wasn't his home, just the idea of settling down in a strange place, hell settling down period upset him.

They had everything they would need to set out again. Ellis wasn't sure where they would go, or what would happen to them next, but he knew he had to try. "Rem... I wanna get out of here, out of the woods." Nick and Rochelle were still out there, somewhere. Maybe he could find them, or find some sort of help. Anything sounded better than staying in this creepy little cabin in the woods.

"But first let's find you some clothes."

Rem and Ellis spent several minutes perusing the bomb shelter's inventory, and happened across a drawer that conveniently contained a nice looking striped hoody and a pair of denim shorts. Well, it contained more, but mostly dresses and no pants the seemed to fit Rem.

Ellis laughed. It looked a little strange, the hoody and the shorts on pale skin. "You look fantastic, Rem!" Ellis giggled. Rem grumbled, appreciative that they had at least found clothes, but he wasn't happy with the grey, slightly brown striped pattern of the top, and shorts were definitely not his thing.

They did give Ellis a nice view of the hunter's powerful leg muscles though, and before he knew it, he found himself running a hand along the smooth legs. Rem let an evil grin come across his face, and he flexed his leg muscles, taking pride in the awed face Ellis made.

Ellis let out a noise, like he was clearing his throat, and then stood upright. He ruffled through the countless clothing articles for a better fitting shirt, but unfortunately found only things that seemed two sizes too small for him. After they had finished taking inventory, they took a seat on the (thankfully dust free) couch and allowed themselves a while to relax.

Before he knew what had happened, Ellis had drifted off to sleep. He only closed his eyes for a second, but that was enough for him. It was only the middle of the day, yet he was still tired... Just a small nap... Rem noticed how his breathing slowed and grew steady and knew what had happened. Just like a baby, he mocked inside his head. He didn't want to wake the sleeping boy up, so he kept quiet and slipped off, climbing the stairs up into the house.

He felt stiffled, the air down there was stagnant and felt very awkward for someone so used to having air whip past you, someone used to having constant moving air around them. So he decided a break out into the air, a quick walk, or leap, was just was he needed.

He left the house, closing the door behind him and once he was outside, he paused to take in a deep breath of fresh air. Only the air wasn't fresh. It tasted putrid, the smell burned his nose, and he gagged on the breath, coughing and waving his arms at the thick smoke surrounding him. He leaped away before anything could happen, out of the dense cloud that obstructed his view and onto a nearby tree. He stared at the disipating smoke, and saw a small trail wafting into the air. It led around the house, to the back.

He let out a threatening warning sound, and then launched himself to the top of the building, instantly spotting the hunched over figure as it made an odd, shambling escape. It seemed Rem had caught the unwanted visitor red handed. He leaped, this time letting out a predatory screech that alerted the smoker to his prescence. Perhaps silence would have been better.

With quick reflexes, the smoker not only managed to sidestep the pounce, but also managed to use the hunter's momentum to pound him into the ground, face first. Rem howled in pain, standing up to find the skin on his face bruised and scratched, blood dripping down his cheek. He stood at a distance from the smoker, although he knew that in this situation, the infected would be able to attack, and he wouldn't. He had to get closer without getting caught by one of those tongues.

He crouched and tried to find an opening, the smoker also analyzing him carefully. The moment he leaped, the smoker was already one step ahead of him, and his tongue wrapped itself almost instantly around his appendages, quickly destroying any control the jump may have had, although the forward momentum carried Rem forward and he flew right into the smoker.

That didn't help though, and he was still ensared by the slimy appendage wrapped around his arms and chest, down his leg, along the inside of his thigh. He squirmed and attempted to free himself from the smoker's clutches, kicking and attempting to break the tongue with his arms, but everything he did managed to hurt no one but himself. The new clothes he had put on almost instantly became torn and dirtied as he writhed around on the ground.

"Digging the new clothes, hunter." The smoker barely managed to make his words audible. On top of the strain of speaking the infected caused, having your tongue out of your mouth also made it hard to speak, and Rem could bearly understand what was being said. "Guess you didn't like the outfit I planned, eh?" He had a sloppy, slurping sound to his voice. That was to be expected though, you know, with the tongue. Some drool dripped from the corners of his mouth as he attempted to speak.

Rem growled his response. "It was you! What did you do with my clothes?" The smoker didn't react at all, it was almost as if he hadn't understood what the man had asked him.

He didn't.

The smoker cocked his head. "Come now, let's be civilized here." Funny, coming from the way he was making himself speak, sending little bits of spittle flying through the air.

"What do you want with me!" He snarled in that strange way of communicating the infected had. But once again it seemed as if the Smoker completely disregarded what Rem had said.

"Ya know what? I don't think these new clothes suit you well enough. Maybe I'll take them too..."

Rem's eyes narrowed into tiny slits, trying to intimidate the smoker that had him with his tongue. "no! NO NO NO NO!" He suddenly began lashing out with renewed vigor, craning his head and trying to bite the tongue wrapped around his chest. "GET OFF!"

He was horrified when he felt the tongue slither around him, coming out farther from the smoker's mouth and manipulating its way around his leg, up his hip and sliding under the hem of his new hoody. It slithered up across Rem's skin, sending shivers through the infected's body.

Rem continued to howl and protest, thrash around as much as he could, but nothing he did worked. He felt the tongue slither across a sensitive nipple, and let out a whining howl, disgusted that he felt anything but horror at the moment. The tongue continued its course, and came out from the neck. It curled around the zipper, and deftly managed to slip it down, then toss it to the side.

Rem's smooth, scar ridden chest was plainly visible now, out in the open, and the cool breeze wafted across his skin, sending goosebumps across his flesh. He tossed his head around, looking for anything that could help him escape. He was reduced to begging now, begging to be let free.

"Please..." He croaked out. The smoker chuckled, a raspy sounding, throaty laugh.

"No, I'm gonna have a little fun."

He felt the tongue sliding across his chest, disgusted at the slimy trails it left, disgusted at how much of a pleasure rush he could when it brushed across his nipples. The smoker continued to tease him like this, watching the Hunter's will slowly break down. Rem was too tired to fight him off anymore. He just laid there, breathless, hopeless, scared even.

If Ellis saw this, what would he think? He felt disgusted at himself, angry at the smoker. His anger welled up once again when he felt the tongue tugging at the waistband of his pants, not bothering to unbutton them. They slipped down slowly, with much resistance from the little hunter on the ground.

But Rem could not stop it, and soon the tongue had managed to slip the denim shorts down and off his legs...


	7. Swarmed

The cool breeze brushed across Rem's now naked form, causing him to shiver. The smoker above him took a moment to admire what he had done, and his intense gaze was torture for the hunter. He felt so disgusted and angry. The smoker chuckled raspily. His tongue wriggled across Rem's flesh, leaving sticky trails all over. The tongue traced its way across a nipple, down his chest, over his stomach. It was getting dangerously close to his crotch. Rem stilled, shivering with fear. "Please... don't..." He begged once again.

His eyes shot open as the slimy tongue ran across his member. His back arched in unwanted pleasure. It wasn't his fault when it began to stiffen- he hadn't had any sort of release since the infection, and his whole body was sensitive to the pleasure the smoker was giving him. "This is exactly what we both want... don't deny it. Just a quick release, us men. We need release, don't resist it." The smoker said huskily. Rem couldn't deny that he needed release, but he didn't need release from this pervert.

"No..." He growled out, speaking in the human tongue since that seemed to be the only one it understood.

"Oh? That's not what you want? Well it's what I want, so I guess I'll have to resort to taking what I want," he said fiercly. His tongue tightened harshly around the hunter's member, sending an almost painful spasm of pleasure up his spine. Rem couldn't help himself as he grew even harder. "Your mouth is saying no, but your body is saying yesss..." He let out an aroused hiss as he spoke. The smoker's grip around the hardening flesh loosened as he undid the buttons and zipper on his pants. Rem stared at it in horror, the sight of the stiff, sickly looking flesh renewing his fear. He had no doubts where the smoker planned on sticking that.

"LET ME GO YOU FREAK!" Sudden adrenaline rush empowered the hunter, and along with the slightly loosened grip, he managed to loosen up the tongue around him enough to free his arms. He wasted no time in using his claws to shred away at the tongue binding him. The smoker yowled in pain, not fast enough to stop the loss of his tongue. Rem stood up shakily, his breaths coming in ragged gasps.

"You stay away from me..." he spat out. The smoker didn't have to understand his language to feel the hatred pouring off the hunter in waves. Rem lunged straight for the smoker, his claws swiping across the thing's face, tearing away the tumors that covered his eyes. The smoker attempted to raise his arms to fend him off, claws digging through the unprotected skin and leaving painful gashes across his side. The smoker's claws weren't as sharp as the hunter's however, and without his tongue he was about as strong as a common.

The smoker managed to push Rem off him and to the ground before pouncing on top of him, landing several powerful punches to the side of his head and his jaw. The hunter opened his mouth and buried his teeth into the smoker's shoulder, chewing off a foul tasting chunk of flesh. The smoker recoiled in pain, slumping to the ground and clutching the wound to hold the blood in.

Rem stood upright, over the fallen smoker. He had coiled up in submission and terror, his body shaking as he breathed. His face was mutilated. The spot where his eye had been was already starting to scab over, the tumor now gone leaving nothing but scarred skin and blood. Rem was bringing his arm up for the finishing blow, but it never came. He had let his gaurd down, considering the threat over, but a sudden bang ripped through the forest, and a bullet wripped through his arm.

"SUBDUE THE HUNTER!" Rem crouched to the ground with a howl as he snapped his head around. They were surrounded by heavily armored military, Rem let out a low threatening growl that only made them all inch closer. The men closest to them all seemed to be holding tranquilizer guns, but he was certain he was shot with a bullet. At any rate, it wasn't a killing shot. He knew if he got shot with one of those tranquilizer guns, he would have only moments to escape before the drugs took their effect.

"FIRE!" That was Rem's sign. He leaped straight up just as they shot at him, landing at the top of a tree on a branch that seemed like it wouldn't hold up the hunter's weight. There was a chorus of curses down below, panic, chaos. He didn't give any of them half a second to look for where he had leaped off before he screeched back to the ground, pouncing on one of the men and snapping his head sideways.

The humans' reflects were slow. He had managed to pounce another, tearing into his throat, before they had all spotted him and began firing at random. He pounced away, diving into the cover of the dense foliage, landing in another tree. From his vantage point, he could see exactly how many people he face. There were at least twenty in the immediate area, the ones that had surrounded him. Ten more created a wider circle around them, and a couple stayed far away, by several large military trucks. Thankfully, they were in the opposite direction of the cabin Ellis was currently asleep in.

He waited until all the chaos had died down, and everyone was scanning the forest for him before striking once again, attempting to clear away enough people for an escape route. He plowed through another man and pounced away, headed straight for the truck. Rem couldn't risk them following him to the cabin, putting Ellis in danger, so he had to mislead them. As he sprinted away, he noticed a trail of blood leading deeper into the forests, along with the familiar stench of the smoker. Seemed it had used the distraction Rem had caused to escape.

He reached the outer ring, and they were much more vigilant than the people he had been fighting before. He was spotted, and before he could leap away, the sound of the tranquilizer guns firing rang out, and he felt one of the darts enter his flesh. He howled, leaping away quickly into a tree. Rem tore out the dart right away, letting out a frustrated growl. It wouldn't be long until he would feel the effects of the drug now in his blood stream.

He leaped down and tore into the officers around. They had all put down their guns, expecting that one dart to be enough, and weren't expecting another attack. He only managed to kill two before his vision began to swim, and every muscle in his body became fatigued. He wanted nothing more than to stop sprinting through the forest and lay down, close his eyes and sleep. But he could hear the footsteps of the military boots pounding along the leafy ground in chase.

He found himself slowing down unwillingly, no longer able to force his legs to hold him up, let alone carry him through the forest. He collapsed to the ground and let his eyes slipped close. He only faintly heard the sound of a cough, and then the dulled bang of a gun being fired before he drifted off into an unnaturally deep, dreamless sleep.

He couldn't tell how much time had passed when he finally awoke. His eyes opened groggily and he glanced around. The effect of the drugs was keeping him groggy instead of the usual full alertness he usually had when he woke up. He had forgotten what it was like to wake up and not be able to remember what had happened last night, how he had gotten where ever he was.

Where was he? He sat up and inspected himself. His right arm was bandaged. Right, that's where the military had shot him. He rubbed his side where the tranquilizer had pierced him- nothing but a tiny prick. He was wearing a very large shirt that went down to his knees. It smelled familiar. He looked around him. He was still in the forest, but none of it looked very familiar to him. He was suddenly aware of a prescence behind him.

"Rem, you're finally awake." The hunter turned around slowly, recognizing Ellis's voice. He was more than a little confused.

"Ellis?" his voice was shaky, even more so thanks to the drug. The hill billy was shirtless once again- He had given up his shirt to cover the hunter's nakedness. "What... happened?" Ellis chuckled.

"I saved your ass, that's what happened. When I woke up, I couldn't find you at all. I figured you had went out for a walk, but suddenly the door busts open and this smoker comes runnin in!" Rem let out a confused whine, thinking he knew exactly who that smoker was.

"He started talkin to me, sayin stuff about how the military was gonna take you in. He led me right to ya and we fought them off just as you collapsed to the ground."

Rem started to panic. If the smoker had helped him, then he was still around. He doubted Ellis would have accepted that pervert's help if he knew what had just happened. "He didn't make it though- they shot him up full of tranquilizers, and i couldn't carry both of you away. He held them off so we could escape. I dunno how far I managed to carry you, but it was NOT easy!" Ellis laughed, but he was obviously upset that the smoker that had helped him had been taken in by the military.

Rem felt pity for him. Death would probably be a better thing than what the military might have planned for the intelligent smoker. Rem decided to drop the whole incident with the smoker, figuring it best if it was never mentioned. Not like the thing would be back any time soon. And there was no way he wanted to recount what had happened to him, even if he could. He leaned back onto the bed of leaves Ellis had made for him and closed his eyes. "Military?" He choked out the one word question.

"It's been a whole day and I haven't seen any sign of any living thing. I think if they were still following us, they would've found us by now. I brought everything we packed." Rem's eyes flew open, glancing to the bags around them. The hillbilly had brought both his and the hunter's share- along with carrying the weight of another person who knows how long. Ellis had dark circles under his eyes, and Rem was sure he was aching. He had went through all that just for the Hunter's safety?

"Sleep," he ordered, sitting up into a crouch and moving so Ellis could take the bed.

"Well, I'm not about to deny that offer..." Ellis said with a yawn. He lay down and closed his eyes. Before he passed out, he managed to say, "Don't ever scare me like that again... or I'll kill you myself." The hunter laughed at that, settling close to the man as his eyes began to scan around the forest, ever vigilant and on guard. He stayed on guard until the sun began to rise above the trees and shine through the leaves, and then even after that. He refused to wake up the hillbilly, feeling he deserved the sleep.

Ellis woke up some time just before noon. He sat up with a yawn, turned and smiled to Rem. "Thanks for lettin' me sleep for so long." Rem nodded towards him, standing up and grabbing his bag with his good arm, slinging it over his shoulder. Ellis sighed. "I suppose we should be off, although I don't have a clue where we're headed. I figured the city wouldn't be safe- with the military crawling around."

Rem began to chew on his bottom lip, something he did when he was thinking. "Around." he grunted out.

"You think we should go around the city? Hmm. Continue on, I suppose. Dunno how easy it'll be to get around the city, it's pretty big. As long as we don't run into the military we should be fine. I doubt they'd be on the outskirts... Great thinking Rem!" Ellis patted the hunter on his back, and Rem beamed proudly. He made a small sound almost like a purr.

Rem stood, keeping the shirt over him. He certainly didn't appreciate having to walk around like this, nothing on but a shirt. The only thing he couldn't complain about was at least it was long enough to cover everything. But forget leaping around- it would be too easy for Ellis to catch a glimpse of that, and that would be embarassing for both of them. He was just not having a good week.

They stood on the bank of a muddy river. Bits of twigs to whole trees floated in the muddy water. The water flowed fast, and the other side of the river was way too far to be able to swim. If they even could swim across the dirty water without being swept under, they'd end up three miles down stream by the time they reached the other side. "I don't think we're gonna swim across this."

The city was to their left, and the river surged right through it. The nearest bridge was somewhere in the city, and to their right were the woods they were just in. They had left it a while ago, wandering around the outside of the city. It had taken them 5 hours to get this far. "You wanna risk going into the city to get to that bridge?" Ellis asked, cocking his head. Rem figured they had no other option, so he nodded and led the way.

There weren't that many infected wandering around the outskirts of the city, but the moment they entered, they noticed the difference. They were swarmed the moment they entered, and their gunshots only attracted a horde. Rem was afraid the noise would attract the attention of the military as well, so he pushed himself more than usual, killing most of the infected to limit the bullets Ellis had to fire.

They were forced to enter an abandoned apartment building to bypass a huge pileup, and the moment they were both in the door, they heard familiar sobbing. Ellis's face turned into shock. "That sounds like Keith!" Ellis was bounding up the stairs straight towards the noise before Rem could growl his warning. No matter who it was, if it was or wasn't Keith, he didn't like it. He already knew what Keith was to Ellis, and he DIDN'T like the competition. And if it wasn't Keith- well that would be a very unfortunate sitaution for both of them.

Ellis had no problem finding which door the sobbing was coming from. On the third floor, at the end of the hall, was a door just barely cracked open. Sitting just inside the small apartment was none other than Keith, sobbing on the floor. The sudden sound of the door hitting the wall startled him, and he let out a scream of rage. Rem was by his side in an instant, preparing to attack the witch head on.

Keith bolted up and was about to charge straight for the intruder, as instinct was telling him, but the startled look on a familiar face put him at east quickly, and he instead embraced Ellis, returning to his usual sobby state. "Damn Keith, this isn't like you. You never cried before you got infected, now look at you..." Ellis was comforting Keith, rubbing his back gently, holding their bodies together.

Rem wanted to rip the witch away, but knew better than to mess with a witch- even if it was Ellis's old friend.

"It's not... like I wanted this..." Keith managed to say between sobs. "I just... can't stop thinking about all the bad stuff, and... and the tears start flowing and i just... i can't stop them... and not being able to control it makes me wanna cry more... oh god Ellis help me..." Keith nuzzled his head into Ellis's bare chest, and Rem couldn't help the jealous growl that bubbled out. He couldn't even get that intimate with Ellis.

"Keith, it's alright." Ellis knew it wasn't alright, but he couldn't stand seeing his closest friend like this. "Just try to remember one good time, one good time from your past..."

"I can't... I can barely remember the bad times..."

"Think harder... Remember that time we found that broken canoe on the river bank, and we spent a whole month fixin it up and the moment was set out on the river it broke in half?"

"I... Yeah I do... the boat flipped over and threw me into the water... we floated... about a mile downstream just laughing..." Keith's flowing tears started to ebb as he focused on the happy memory. "And after we got out... we were both soaked... it was chilly that day... we... we..." he faltered, and Ellis blushed. "You and I, we both..." Keith choked, knowing that the relationship they had had was gone, and the sadness overtook him again.

He broke down and slumped to the floor, clutching Ellis's legs. Rem rolled his eyes, pretending like he didn't care about their past. But his jealousy and impatience forced his next hand. "That's right, you and him are through, he's mine now. So back off!"

Keith stopped sobbing, eyes going wide at Rem before he broke out into a more terrified crying, his whole body wracked with the sobbing. "I... I'm sorry... I didn't know... I just... please don't be mad..." Ellis stared sternly at Rem, and he instantly felt bad for what he said. He sulked away like he was a dog with his tail would between his legs.

Ellis sat down on the floor next to Keith, trying to calm him down. Rem thought it was useless to try- it wasn't in a witch's nature to not cry. "Ellis, I didn't want to leave you at the cabin... I wanted to stay... When I'm with you it makes me feel more human... I think I can almost feel happy when I'm with you..."

"That's alright, I'm here now, and you don't have to leave us if you don't want to..."

"But... I can't stay. The hunter doesn't like me..." Ellis glared once again at Rem.

"I can't force him to like you, but I know I can force him to stand you if that's what's necessary." Rem let out a whine of protest. He did NOT want to travel with a Witch. They were too unpredictable. The smallest thing would set him off against them. But it was true, Rem would do just about anything for Ellis.

"Come on, there's nothing to cry about now..." Keith nodded, his sobbing slowly turning into hiccups. He got to his feet and took in a deep shaky breath.

"Okay... I think I'm good."

Ellis smiled at Keith. "Great! Think you're ready to go?" Keith gave a small nod and walked steadily towards the door. For once, he actually felt hope about this situation, hope that it could get better, that it WOULD get better.

But Rem knew the moment they walked out of the apartment on the other side, they were walking into a very dangerous situation. In the distance, he could hear gunshots. He spotted the fight instantly. Swarms of military were attempting to stand their ground against the horrific abomination they had dubbed the Runner. And they were loosing terribly. The Runner noticed the three survivors instantly and turned it's eyeless face right at them, then let out an ear wrenching screech before suddenly disappearing from sight.

Rem gripped Ellis and choked out one single word. "Run!"

The three bolted off just in time, the Runner appearing out of nowhere right beside them, using its powerful claws to rip into the brick of the building they had just exited. Keith let out a horrible shriek, and for once his instinct was telling him NOT to attack that horrible creature.

Rem gripped Ellis's hand and pulled him along, forcing him to run faster than he could. He didn't bother trying to help the witch. Let him die, he figured. At least it wouldn't have been by his hands. But Keith was, surprisingly, running faster than both of them. Strange, he wasn't used to Witches being that fast

Rem grabbed Ellis and swung him over his back, then leaped away, running faster now that he had Ellis on his back. The runner once again appeared out of nowhere, this time right in front of them. Rem couldn't turn in time, and ran right into the thing. It bellowed out, disappearing and then reappearing two feet back. It lashed out, sending both Ellis and Rem flying into the side of a building.

Ellis gripped his gun as he impacted, making sure he didn't lose it. He tried to regain his breath, getting to his feet quickly. He aimed and fired at the thing, but it easily side stepped it, seeming to blink out of existence to dodge each bullet, then appearing once again in the exact same spot.

Rem pulled Ellis into a nearby door, and Keith followed behind quickly. "DOWN" he bellowed out, leading them to a set of stairs at the opposite end of the hall they had entered. The walls suddenly caved in, plaster and wood splintering around them as the beast attacked the house.

Ellis shielded his face and let Rem guide him down. The runner struck again, and then it's white, leathery face appeared in the gaping hole. The whole house shook on it's foundations as the thing ripped it apart, trying to get at its prey.

The runner struck out with its powerful arms, and it struck Rem and Ellis, sending them flying into the opposite wall. Keith watched from the stairs, tears streaming down his face. He wanted to help Ellis, but he was too scared. Rem stood up first, coughing as he tried to catch his breath. A powerful pain came from his sides as he breathed, and he was certain a couple ribs were broken.

Ellis struggled to get up, and Rem helped him up. The runner screamed in triumph, stepping into the gaping hole of the house. Rem screeched in warning at the beast, moving to protect Ellis. "Rem... Over here..."

Ellis tugged on Rem's shirt, leading him slowly towards a door that lead to a hallway. Rem glanced back and shoved Ellis in just as the Runner struck again, hitting out at the frame and crumbling the foundation. They ducked in, rushing through the hall and around a corner, then into an open door. Rem made a hushing noise and pressed Ellis against the close wall.

Their breath hitched as they hid from the runner. They could hear it breathing heavily, looking for them. It was right around the corner now, Rem could see its shadow creeping down the hall just outside the door. They were as good as dead- there was no way out now, they were at a dead end. Ellis shook with fear. Rem moved to wrap his arms around the man, pressing their bodies together.

Just when they thought they were dead, a loud bang echoed through the building, and the runner stopped and let out a horrible shriek. It sounded like it was in pain. It started thrashing around, destroying the walls and the hallway around them. From outside the building, they heard the sound of the military shouting commands to shoot. More shots rang out, and the whole building shook as the Runner tried desperately to escape from the small confines, tearing the whole roof off as it attempted to jump up and out.

And just as soon as it had started, it stopped. The runner was gone, running away to lick its wounds, and the military was off in chase of the beast. Ellis slid down the wall to the floor, letting out a breath he had been holding in, and Rem sat with him, nursing his own broken ribs. Ellis was panting, the natural adrenaline finally wearing off. "Woo... that was... intense." He had no other words to describe it. Rem turned towards Elllis, a harsh look on his face. It instantly softened when he realized that they had both survived. It seemed like a miracle, but they were alive!

"Ellis... Ellis?" It was Keith's shaky voice as he wandered down the hall. "Please be alive..."

"Keith! In here." Ellis peeked his head into the hall, and Keith let out a sigh of relief, rushing over to give him a hug, careful of his dangerously sharp claws. "I thought you had died, and left me alone again. I don't want to be alone again..."

Rem scowled. Despite all the pain he was in, he couldn't help but feel jealousy. Why did Keith always get to hug Ellis like that? Why couldn't he? "Let's go!" he grumbled, forcing himself to stand. Broken ribs were nothing for him- the infection was already at work mending the bones inside his body.

"Rem, we've just cheated death... can't we take a break. I'm bruised and cut all over..." Rem growled in disbelief. What if the Runner came back? The building they were in was completely destroyed now, anything could come by and attack them. "Actually... maybe you're right. Here isn't the best place to be is it?" Especially if the military decided to come back now.

"But where will we go?" Keith asked quietly, and it caused the other two to stop. Where WERE they headed? What exactly were they looking for? Neither of them really knew. All they knew is that the place they were at was dangerous, and that they couldn't stay there. But was there safety, somewhere out there? A place where civilization still existed? Where cars worked and stores sold fresh fruits and vegetables, and you didn't have to worry about the infected chasing you down the street?

And what would happen to Rem if that place existed? There was no way they would let Rem in. "Where ARE we going, Rem?" Rem sighed. He didn't have the answer himself. All he wanted to do was be somewhere alone with Ellis, where they could just live their life in peace, hunting and gathering, cooking, somewhere high in the mountains, but not too high so that it was freezing. Where there were plenty of fresh flora and fauna...

Of course, Rem didn't have the ability to say all that, so instead he settled for a brief shrug of the shoulders.

"Let's check out what was down those stairs first," Ellis sugested. It was a step forward at least, and no one seemed to object to it. Ellis helped Rem stand this time, and supported him down the hall back to the completely torn about entrance to the building, then they descended the stairs into a dark basement. It wasn't one of those dusty ones without dry wall- someone had taken the time to turn the place into an entertainment room. But the place had been ransacked already, anything that looked even remotely like fun was completely destroyed, and the furniture was torn to shreds.

"Looks like we aren't the first to come here..." Keith observed. Rem snorted and rolled his eyes at the comment. He started to crawl to the other side of the room, sniffing the air. Nothing too dangerous, just a few lingering smells of common infection. The love seat wasn't too torn up, and actually looked a bit comfortable. "Sit... relax?" Rem suggested, hopping onto the seat.

"I can't say that doesn't look inviting..." Ellis propped his weapon against the couch and sat down next to Rem, sinking into the couch. He let out a content sigh. "Oh it feels nice to sit..." Keith looked around and spotted a beanbag in the corner that surprisingly had no scratches or tears. Careful not to put any in himself, he too sat down and was allowed a small moment to relax. "I dunno about you guys, but I'm getting a little hungry." Ellis said as his stomache rumbled.

No one responded. All three were perfectly content to just have a moment to relax. Keith actually managed to doze off. And Rem spotted an opportunity to get closer to Ellis. He scooted closer and wrapped his arm around Ellis.

Ellis's heart skipped a beat. He leaned his head against Rem's shoulder. "Rem... I don't know... if I know exactly what you feel... but..." Ellis swallowed. Keith had been the love of his life, before everything had happened. Yet despite that, he found himself falling further and further for Rem.

"Ellis..." Rem's usually pale skin flushed ever so slightly.

"It's strange... but I think I'm fallin' in love with you..." And it wasn't just because Rem h ad saved his life on multiple occasions. He wish he had known this man before the infection. Would things be the same? Would they still get as close as this, or was it because of this entire situation that they were this close now? Rem purred contentedly, and lifted Ellis's chin, and forced him to look into his eyes. Rem's eyes were sparkling with a life that was lacking in this world right now, and Ellis found it refreshing. "Rem... are we gonna kiss now?"

Rem nodded his head, before diving in to capture his lips. The infected's lips were surprisingly warm, and Ellis found himself melting into Rem's arms. It was a simple chaste kiss, yet Rem thought it was the highest moment of his life. Ellis craved this more than he knew, and found his tongue probing at the entrance to Rem's mouth. Rem obliged him, and their tongues met. Ellis's hands went up and wrapped around Rem's body, rubbing his back tenderly.

Before too long, they were forced to break in order to catch their breath. And they were indeed breathless... "Rem..."

"Shh... no speak..." Ellis nodded, and they both dove in for another passionate kiss.


End file.
